The discovery and description of the ORI Spider Crab Pleistacantha ori was a collaborative effort by South African scientists and a team of international experts. Due to the lack of local taxonomists the formal taxonomic description was carried out by overseas taxonomists but the species was discovered by Sean Fennessy, a scientist at the Oceanographic Research Institute (ORI) in Durban. The species was named after ORI in honour of this institute’s more than 65 year history of research in advancing the knowledge of South Africa’s marine diversity on the east coast of Africa and beyond.
