Porcellana sayana

Porcellana sayana
File:Porcelain crab 600.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Crustacea
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Family:	Porcellanidae
Genus:	Porcellana
Species:	P. sayana
Binomial name
Porcellana sayana (Leach, 1820)
Synonyms
Porcellana sagrai Von Martens, 1872 Porcellana ocellata Gibbes, 1850 Porcellana robertsoni Henderson, 1888 Porcellana sagrai Guérin-Méneville, 1855 Porcellana sayii Gray, 1831 [misspelling] Porcellana stimpsoni A. Milne-Edwards, 1880

Porcellana sayana is a species of porcelain crab that lives in the western Atlantic Ocean, often as a commensal of hermit crabs. It is red with white spots, and has a characteristic bulge behind each claw.

Distribution

Porcellana sayana is found along the western coast of the Atlantic Ocean, from Cape Hatteras (United States) to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

Description

Porcellana sayana is 13 millimetres (0.51 in) long, and is red, with numerous whitish spots. It may be distinguished from other species by the form of the first pereiopod; the carpus (last segment before the claw) of that leg bears a lobe which projects forwards. It has a fringe of setae along the front of its claws, which it uses in filter feeding.

Ecology

Porcellana sayana lives in shallow water, at depths of up to 92 metres (302 ft), among rocks and oyster shells, or as a commensal of the hermit crabs Pagurus pollicaris and Petrochirus diogenes. Like another porcelain crab, Petrolisthes galathinus, Porcellana sayana is parasitised by the bopyrid isopod Aporobopyrus curtatus, which lives in the porcelain crab's gill chamber.

Taxonomy

Porcellana sayana was first described by William Elford Leach in 1820 as Pisidia sayana. Its common names include "spotted porcelain crab" and "Say's porcellanid".