Crab, Pea  
Pinnotheras novaezelanfiae
Photos:

No Images are available at this time


Rocky Shore

Scavenger

New Zealand

Inedible

Coin Sized
back to guide back to home

Category: Invertebrate
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Crustacea
Family: Pinnotheridae

Notes
The female is a soft bodied crab lives commensally within the mantle of mussels and sometimes other bivalves. The male crab is rarer, and has a harder shell. It lives free amongst the seaweed. Found at low tide within the shell of the mussel. They scavenge on the food filtered by the gills of the mussel.


References
Collins: Gunson
University of Otago 2013
Last Update: 24 April 2013