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Glite Dictionary
🐧 A seal species 🦀 A crab catcher 🍽️ A crab eater
crabeater

crabeater

1 7.7
A seal from Antarctica that mainly eats tiny sea animals
  • noun
  • /ˈkreɪˌbiːtər/
translation icon : foca cangrejera
  • During the summer, the population of crabeater seals increases as they feed on the abundant krill.
  • crabeater seal

Examples

  • Note: Crabeater seals do not eat minke whales.

    Academic text (2003)

  • For example, in the 1960s, a resurgent sealing industry seemed to threaten the abundant crabeater seals on the summer pack ice.

    Academic text (1990)

  • The crabeater seal swims gracefully through the icy waters, searching for krill to eat.

  • Researchers observed a group of crabeater seals lounging on the ice during their expedition.

Synonyms

crabeater seal
vscrabeater
7.9

A silvery-grey seal that lives in Antarctica and eats krill

focuses on krill specifically rather than broader crustacean diet
crab-eating seal
vscrabeater
6.7

A silvery grey seal from Antarctica that eats mainly small sea animals with shells

focuses more on krill than on crustaceans in general

Compounds

crabeater seal
7.9

A silvery-grey seal that lives in Antarctica and eats krill

Surface Forms

crabeater singular
crabeaters plural

Morphology

crabeater = crab + eater (opaque) = crab + eater

Although morphologically 'crab' + 'eater', the zoological name is a misnomer: the crabeater seal mainly eats krill, so the compound is semantically misleading.

Etymology

Crabeater for the Antarctic seal comes from the parts crab and eater because early observers thought it 'ate' crabs. Today we know the seal mostly eats tiny shrimp-like animals called krill, so the name is not accurate.