Porcelain Anemone Crab
The porcelain anemone crab (Neopetrolisthes maculatus) is a small, white-and-red-spotted crab that lives among the tentacles of large sea anemones on Indo-Pacific reefs. It is not a true crab but a porcelain crab.
The porcelain anemone crab (Neopetrolisthes maculatus) is a small, white-and-red-spotted crab that lives among the tentacles of large sea anemones on Indo-Pacific reefs. It is not a true crab but a porcelain crab.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Porcelain Anemone Crab in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Ecdysozoa lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
Safe in the Tentacles
The crab shelters in the stinging tentacles of its host anemone, probably protected by a chemical disguise. It is a commensal, sharing the anemone's food while giving the host some protection from fish that nibble on it.
Filter-Feeding Crab
The crab waves feathery mouthparts to strain plankton from the water. Porcelain crabs can shed a claw if grabbed by a predator and regrow it.
Not a True Crab
Porcelain crabs are anomurans like hermit crabs and king crabs, and show a reduced fifth pair of legs. See Ocellaris Clownfish.
Porcelain Anemone Crab at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Neopetrolisthes maculatus |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Class | Malacostraca |
| Order | Decapoda |
| Family | Porcellanidae |
| Field Guide group | Ecdysozoa: Mandibulata (Mandibulates) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Small Indo-Pacific reef crustacean living commensally among stinging sea anemone tentacles, featuring a flattened white carapace stippled with reddish-purple spots, broad flattened chelipeds, and feathery maxillipeds that sweep plankton from the water. |
| Order | Decapoda (Anomura) |
| Host | Large sea anemones |
See Also
- Ocellaris Clownfish — another anemone partner
- Red King Crab — another anomuran