Meet the Saban Crab: UA Scientists Discover Ancient Species in Alabama

A team led by University of Alabama researchers have discovered several ancient crab and shrimp fossils from central Alabama - including one they have named after legendary football coach Nick Saban.

The crab's official name is Costacopluma nicksabani, but it can be called the Saban crab, for short.

The Saban crab is the most common crab found in the fossil collection from Lowndes County. Most of the fossils are just the crab's shell, called a carapace, and are about the size of a dime. These crabs lived on or in the muddy sea floor, and their family, Retroplumidae, is still around today.

While the dinosaurs disappeared about 66 million years ago after a giant meteorite hit Earth, crabs like these survived and kept thriving. The Saban crab's relatives have been around for a long time, about 48-87 million years. And yes, some members of its family are still alive today.

The fossil site is a big deal because scientists found eight different species of crabs and shrimps there, including another brand-new crab and a new type of burrowing shrimp. This is the most diverse group of these creatures ever found at one spot in North America so soon after the big extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Most fossils from the new study are housed in the UA Museums' paleontology collection under the care of the department of museum research and collections. The fossils are available to see during a collections tour upon request.

The full scientific paper is free online in the journal Geodiversitas.

Check out the full story on the UA Museums website.