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Porcelain crab

 
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Porcelain crab
 
 
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Porcelain crabs are decapod
Decapoda

The decapods or Decapoda are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crayfish, crabs, lobsters, prawns and shrimp....
 crustaceans in the family Porcellanidae, which superficially resemble true crab
Crab

Crabs are Decapoda crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax....
s. They are a good example of carcinisation
Carcinisation

In evolutionary biology, carcinisation is a hypothesised process whereby a crustacean evolution into a crab-like form from a non-crab-like form....
, whereby a non-crab-like animal (in this case a relative of a squat lobster
Squat lobster

Squat lobsters are Decapoda crustaceans of the families Galatheidae and Chirostylidae, including the common genera Galathea and Munida....
) evolves into an animal that only a specialist would know is not a true crab. They live in all the world's oceans, except the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic North Pole region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions....
 and the Antarctic.

Porcelain crabs are small, usually with body widths of 1-2 cm. They are common under rocks, and can often be found and observed on rocky beach
Beach

File:MiamiSouthBeachPanoramaEdit.jpgA beach is a geology landform along the shoreline of a body of water. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of Rock , such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, pebbles, or cobble....
es and shorelines, startled creatures scurrying away when a stone is lifted.

Porcelain crabs can be distinguished from the true crabs by the apparent number of walking legs (three instead of four pairs, the fourth pair is actually hidden under the carapace
Carapace

A carapace is a Dorsum section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods such as crustaceans and arachnids as well as vertebrates such as chelonians, order Testudines, turtles and tortoises....
), the apparent lack of a wrist (carpal) segment on the chelipeds, and long antennae
Antenna (biology)

Antennae are paired appendages connected to the front-most morphogenesis of arthropods. In crustaceans, they are biramous and present on the first two segments of the head, with the smaller pair known as antennules....
 originating on the front outside of the eye stalks.






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Encyclopedia


Porcelain crabs are decapod
Decapoda

The decapods or Decapoda are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crayfish, crabs, lobsters, prawns and shrimp....
 crustaceans in the family Porcellanidae, which superficially resemble true crab
Crab

Crabs are Decapoda crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax....
s. They are a good example of carcinisation
Carcinisation

In evolutionary biology, carcinisation is a hypothesised process whereby a crustacean evolution into a crab-like form from a non-crab-like form....
, whereby a non-crab-like animal (in this case a relative of a squat lobster
Squat lobster

Squat lobsters are Decapoda crustaceans of the families Galatheidae and Chirostylidae, including the common genera Galathea and Munida....
) evolves into an animal that only a specialist would know is not a true crab. They live in all the world's oceans, except the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic North Pole region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions....
 and the Antarctic.

Porcelain crabs are small, usually with body widths of 1-2 cm. They are common under rocks, and can often be found and observed on rocky beach
Beach

File:MiamiSouthBeachPanoramaEdit.jpgA beach is a geology landform along the shoreline of a body of water. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of Rock , such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, pebbles, or cobble....
es and shorelines, startled creatures scurrying away when a stone is lifted.

Porcelain crabs can be distinguished from the true crabs by the apparent number of walking legs (three instead of four pairs, the fourth pair is actually hidden under the carapace
Carapace

A carapace is a Dorsum section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods such as crustaceans and arachnids as well as vertebrates such as chelonians, order Testudines, turtles and tortoises....
), the apparent lack of a wrist (carpal) segment on the chelipeds, and long antennae
Antenna (biology)

Antennae are paired appendages connected to the front-most morphogenesis of arthropods. In crustaceans, they are biramous and present on the first two segments of the head, with the smaller pair known as antennules....
 originating on the front outside of the eye stalks. The abdomen
Abdomen

In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity....
 of the porcelain crab is long and folded underneath it, free to move. In fact, when alarmed, the crab might swim by flapping its abdomen.

Porcelain crabs share the general body plan of a squat lobster
Squat lobster

Squat lobsters are Decapoda crustaceans of the families Galatheidae and Chirostylidae, including the common genera Galathea and Munida....
 (Galatheidae), but their bodies are more compact and flattened, an adaptation for living and hiding under rocks, as well as squeezing into little nooks and crannies. The porcelain crabs are quite fragile animals, and will often shed their limbs, hence their name. This trait is useful for these crustaceans because it helps them escape if a limb is grabbed by a predator or caught between rocks shifting in the current. A broken-off piece of limb may still continue to move for a short while, distracting the would-be predator as the crustacean flees. The lost appendage
Appendage

An appendage in the broadest sense is an additional or subsidiary part existing on, or added to, something which can generally still function if the appendage has never existed or is later provided or grown, or will still perform a primary function if the appendage is removed....
 can grow back over several moultings
Ecdysis

Ecdysis is the molting of the cuticula in arthropods and related groups . Since the cuticula of these animals is also the skeletal support of the body and is inelastic, it is shed during growth and a new, larger covering is formed....
. Porcelain crabs have large chelae (claw
Claw

A claw is a curved, pointed appendage, found at the end of a toe or finger in most mammals, birds, and some reptiles. Somewhat similar fine hooked structures are found in arthropods such as beetles and spiders, at the end of the leg or Arthropod leg for gripping a surface as the creature walks....
s), which are used for territorial
Territory (animal)

In ethology, sociobiology and behavioral ecology, the term territory refers to any sociographical area that an animal of a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics ....
 struggles, but not for catching food. Feeding is accomplished instead by combing plankton
Plankton

Plankton consist of any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. Plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than their Phylogenetics or taxonomy classification....
 and other organic particles from the water using long seta
Seta

Seta is a biology term derived from the Latin word for "bristle". It refers to a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms....
e (feathery hair or bristle-like structures) on the mouthparts, where they will later be scraped off and consumed into the mouth. These animals will also scavenge on the sea floor for detritus
Detritus

Detritus is a biological term used to describe dead or waste organic material.Detritus may also refer to:* Detritus , a geological term used to describe the particles of rock produced by weathering...
 and in aquaria
Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. fishkeeping use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants....
, they will consume meaty pieces of fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
 or shrimp
Shrimp

Shrimp are swimming, Decapoda crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh water and seawater. Adult shrimp are Filter feeder benthic animals living close to the bottom....
. Some of the common species of porcellanids in the Caribbean
Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean situated in the mid-latitudes of the Western Hemisphere, bounded to the south and west by the Americas, with the North Atlantic Ocean proper to the northeast and the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest....
 are Petrolisthes quadratus, found in large numbers under rocks in the intertidal, and the red-and-white polka-dotted Porcellana sayana, which lives commensally within the shells inhabited by large hermit crab
Hermit crab

Hermit crabs are Decapoda crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea . They are not closely related to true crabs. Hermit crabs are quite commonly seen in the intertidal zone, for example in tide pools....
s.

Genera

  • Aliaporcellana Nakasone & Miyake, 1969
  • Capilliporcellana Haig, 1981
  • Clastotoechus Haig, 1960
  • Euceramus Stimpson, 1858
  • Enosteoides Johnson, 1970
  • Eulenaios Ng & Nakasone, 1993
  • Lissoporcellana Haig, 1978
  • Megalobrachuium Stimpson, 1858
  • Minyocerus Stimpson, 1858
  • Neopetrolisthes Miyake, 1937
  • Neopisoma Haig, 1960
  • Pachycheles Ward, 1942
  • Parapetrolisthes Haig, 1962
  • Petrolisthes
    Petrolisthes

    Petrolisthes is a genus of marine porcelain crabs....
     Stimpson
    William Stimpson

    William Stimpson was a noted United States scientist.Stimpson was born in Boston, Massachusetts and studied under the great naturalist Louis Agassiz....
    , 1858
  • Pisidia Leach, 1820
  • Polyonyx Stimpson, 1858
  • Porcellana Lamarck, 1801
  • Porcellanella White, 1852
  • Pseudoporcellanella Sankarankutty, 1961
  • Raphidopus Stimpson, 1858
  • Ulloaia Glassell, 1938