Porcelain Crab - Neopetrolisthes species

Taxonomy: Porcelain Crab belongs to the Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Arthropoda, Class Crustacea, Order Decapoda, Family Porcellanidae and Genus Neopetrolisthes.

Scientific names: The scientific name of Porcelain Crab is Neopetrolisthes species.

Other common names: Porcelain Crab is also commonly known as Anemone Crab and Porcelain Anemone Crab.

Origin or natural range: The Neopetrolisthes species is found in all the oceans globally except for the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic Ocean.

Size: Porcelain Crab is small in size with the width of its body measuring around five centimeters to eight centimeters. Male Porcelain Crabs are larger in size as compared to their female counterparts that measure less than five centimeters in their body width.

Color: The Neopetrolisthes species occurs in cream, tan and brown colors with red spots on its body.

Compatibility: Porcelain Crab is non-aggressive towards the other marine aquarium invertebrates.

Habit & Habitat:

• The Neopetrolisthes species is generally found in pairs, under rocks, live corals, on rocky shores and on shorelines.
• As soon as Porcelain Crab is disturbed, it begins to run towards another sheltered area. Therefore, it’s difficult to spot this crab.
• The Neopetrolisthes species shares a symbiotic relationship with Anemones and lives in their tentacles. The pair of Porcelain Crab gets shelter in the tentacles of Anemones in the exchange of the food it supplies to its host.
• The Neopetrolisthes species fights with any clownfish present in the crab’s host Anemone to scare it away from its host. The fish, however, wins at the end, owing to its larger size as compared to that of Porcelain Crab.
• The ability of the Neopetrolisthes species to shed its limbs is useful when a predator catches hold of any of the crab’s limbs or the limbs are hooked somewhere. The crab detaches the caught limb from its body and runs off. The detached limb moves for some time which dodges the predators.

Morphology:

• Porcelain Crab is quite delicate but very beautiful crab.
• The Neopetrolisthes species is a type of lobster that very closely resembles the appearance of a crab.
• The body structure of Porcelain Crab is quite compact, flat and oval in shape.
• The Neopetrolisthes species has three pairs of visible walking legs with the fourth pair being hidden under the carapace.
• Porcelain Crab sheds its limbs quite frequently. The lost limbs grow back again after many rounds of molting.
• The abdomen of the Neopetrolisthes species is long and is folded at the bottom to facilitate the rapid movement of the crab.
• The claws, also called as chelas, of Porcelain Crab are quite large and help the crab fight instead of catching food.
• The mouth of the Neopetrolisthes species has long, feathery, hair like or bristles like structures called as setae, which help the crab feed through filter feeding.

Growth enabling environment in your marine aquarium:

• Temperature of water: Seventy-two to seventy-eight degrees Fahrenheit.
• Specific gravity of water: 1.023 to 1.025.
• pH of water: 8.10 to 8.40.
• Habit & habitat:
• To host Porcelain Crab, you should have a reef type marine aquarium or invertebrates only marine aquarium.
• Try having Anemones in the marine aquarium hosting the Neopetrolisthes species.
• Although Porcelain Crab fights hard with clownfish to claim the complete territory of Anemones but, if the Anemone is of large size, both the Crab and the clownfish can live in the same Anemone.
• Feeding & Nutrition: The Neopetrolisthes species is Carnivorous in feeding habit and filter feeds zooplankton, phytoplankton, detritus, Anemone mucus and the meaty bits of fish or shrimp, thereby cleaning the tank water.

Care:

• Porcelain Crab is easy to maintain.
• The Neopetrolisthes species and the large sized crabs should not be kept in the same marine aquarium as the larger crabs may attack and hurt the small sized Porcelain Crab.

Caution: The Neopetrolisthes species is aggressive towards the other crabs of its size and may attack them, eventually hurting them.

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