Somanniathelphusa Zanklon
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''Somanniathelphusa zanklon'' is a species of endangered
freshwater crab Around 1,300 species of freshwater crabs are distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics, divided among eight family (biology), families. They show direct development and maternal care of a small number of offspring, in contrast to marine c ...
considered to be endemic to
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
.


Ecology and behavior

The lifecycle of ''S. zanklon'' is similar to most true freshwater crabs, in which they brood over
plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...
ic larvae, and release their juveniles at the onset of the
rainy season The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Rainy Season may also refer to: * ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King * "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni * '' ...
. It is naturally omnivorous, with records of it eating seeds of the '' Bauhinia variegata'' tree, as well as various species of freshwater snails. It is preyed upon by both native wild carp, as well as invasive
goldfish The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of the order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the w ...
and tilapia, which have been introduced to their environment through human intervention.


Habitat and range

It prefers living in slow moving streams or lowland marshes, was originally described from specimens from the lower Lam Tsuen River and the
So Kwun Wat So Kwun Wat, commonly pronounced So Kwun Fat, is an area on the south coast of the western mainland New Territories in Hong Kong. The proper So Kwun Wat is a populated area in the valley between Siu Lam and Sam Shing Hui. It includes So Kwun Ta ...
area of Hong Kong. Studies have shown that is tolerant to organic pollution, and can be found in irrigation ditches around the
New Territories The New Territories (N.T., Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: ) is one of the three areas of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of H ...
.


Conservation

In 2019, a large population of ''S. zanklon'' was found at the site of further development of the Hong Kong Golf Club in
Fanling Fanling ( zh, t=粉嶺; also spelled Fan Ling or Fan Leng) is a town in the New Territories East of Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the North District. Fanling Town is the main settlement of the Fanling area. The name Fanling is ...
. The Hong Kong branch of the
World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...
lobbied at the
Environmental Protection Department Environmental Protection Department (EPD) is a department of Hong Kong Government concerning the issues of environmental protection in Hong Kong. The EPD is responsible for developing policies covering environmental protection, nature conser ...
to stop development of the site, due to the potential disruption of their native habitat.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14365398 Gecarcinucidae