Porcelain Anemone Crab

Care at a glance

Overview

A peaceful filter feeder that uses fan-like, bristled mouthparts to sweep plankton and fine particles out of the water column, an unusual feeding method for a crab. Home aquariums rarely carry enough drifting plankton to sustain it on their own, so it needs supplemental feedings of baby brine shrimp, fine frozen foods, or dissolved prepared foods released near its fans. It poses no threat to corals and is reef-safe, but it is territorial toward its own kind, so it is usually kept as a single bonded pair on one host anemone rather than in a crowd. Keep it paired with a suitable host anemone for the best results.

In the wild

Lives across the Indo-Pacific from East Africa to the central Pacific, north to southern Japan and south to Australia, always in close association with a host sea anemone on shallow reef. It shelters among the anemone's stinging tentacles, which keep most predators away, and rarely strays more than a body length from its host. In the aquarium it needs a suitable host anemone, such as a carpet or sand anemone, to feel secure; without one it has little defense against fish.

Good to know

Neopetrolisthes maculatus is a porcelain crab in the family Porcellanidae, a group of anomurans more closely related to hermit crabs and squat lobsters than to true crabs. Its round, flattened, porcelain-white carapace is dotted with small orange to red spots, and its oversized claws are used purely for defense and territorial display rather than for feeding. Adults reach roughly 6 to 7.5 cm across including the legs, with the carapace itself closer to 2.5 cm.

Did you know

Watching it feed is the real draw: it waves its two feathery fan-arms through the current like a pair of nets, then folds them in and picks the catch clean with its mouthparts.

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