Let me tell you about the cabinet of curiosities my brother, a former university biology professor, received as a retirement gift.

One of the most bizarre curiosities in the cabinet is the Stylobates aeneus: a sea anemone that first entered the scientific literature in 1903.

Its description goes something like this. The soft-bodied sea anemone secretes a leathery shell home that grows with the crab while the crab provides the sea anemone’s food; meanwhile, the sea anemone’s stinging cells further protect the crab.

Such a wonderful example of the symbiosis of two different organisms co-operating for shared benefit, enhancing their mutual survival.