Surprisingly Adorable: Meet The Baby King Crab Stealing Hearts

As stewards of U.S. oceans, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) are no strangers to the variety of creatures that live thousands of miles below the surface. But every once in a while, even they are surprised by the discoveries they make. One of these moments took place in the Gulf of Mexico in the summer of 2024. Here, a team of experts worked to collect “samples of mesophotic and deep-sea coral species for lab rearing and propagation.”

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While completing the tasks at hand, the team also collected a plastic bag from the seafloor. In doing so, they unintentionally picked up a side quest via a sneaky baby king crab. Somehow, this tiny creature latched onto the bag without anyone noticing. So, when the crew headed back to land, so did the crab. See him for yourself in the video below!

As the video above shows, this baby king crab is surprisingly cute! He’s particularly tiny, fitting in the palm of someone’s hand. Plus, the tiny spikes that cover his whole body somehow make him even cuter! And sure, he looks a bit frazzled, but that’s a huge reason why people from all around the world adore this little guy!

Much remains unknown about this species of king crab, also called Neolithodes agassizii. What we do know is they typically live at depths of 660 to 6,230 feet. Plus, when they grow up, they tend to be pretty large.

Usually, that means around 4.6 inches across and 4.8 inches long — and that doesn’t include their legs! So, while this spiky little dude is small for now, we can expect him to look more like the image above once he matures. Sure, he’ll look much different, but he’ll still be pretty adorable if you ask me!

You can find the source of this story’s featured image here!