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Porcelain crab

Enw gwyddonol: Porcellana platycheles
Look out for this tiny crab under rocks and boulders on rocky shores - you'll have to look closely though, they're pretty well camouflaged!

Species information

Ystadegau

Length: 15mm

Statws cadwraethol

Common

Pryd i'w gweld

January to December

Ynghylch

The porcelain crab, also known as the broad-clawed porcelain crab, is a small crab covered in tiny hairs. They have large, flattened hairy claws and are brown in colour. They live under rocks and boulders on rocky shores - though they can be hard to spot as their brown hairy bodies are well camouflaged. They are filter feeders, combing plankton from the water using special hairs on their mouthparts.

Sut i'w hadnabod

A tiny, hairy crab with broad, flattened front claws. Greenish-brown on the back and off-white underneath. They have two long antennae.

Dosbarthiad

Found around all UK coasts.

Habitats

Roeddech chi yn gwybod?

Porcelain crabs are fragile animals and will shed a leg if attacked, in the same way that a lizard sheds its tail. It's this fragility that gives them their name!

Sut y gall bobl helpu

When rockpooling, be careful to leave everything as you found it - replace any rocks you turn over, put back any crabs or fish and ensure not to scrape anything off its rocky home.