Purple Zebra Porcelain Crab

I snagged an interesting Nano crab from Liveaquaria today. Sign yourself up for the RSS feed to keep up with all the cool species posted there. I've never seen one of these guys before! It's really similar to the Petrolisthes galathinus from the Caribbean. This species Petrolisthes bolivarensis was once thought to be a variation of the P. galathinus, but was given its own species name in 2002.



It has a few unique markings to help identify it. There are two small orange dots on each claw and a zebra pattern of distinct purple lines on the body. It has vivid blue mouthparts and a purple underside.

Like other Porcellanid crabs, this crab is totally reef safe and peaceful. It is not commensal with anemones like Neopetrolisthes sp. porcelain anemone crabs. It uses two feathery baskets at the end of its feeding arms (third maxillipeds) to filter food from the water column. It will also accept bits of mysis and other foods when target fed.

Further Reading:

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/cr/2002/00000075/00000009/art00010

http://www.uni-giessen.de/porcellanidae/