Pea Crab
 

Common Name(s): Pea Crab Scientific Name:   Pinnotheres spp.  Family: Usual Size: Male with a carapace about the size of a garden pea

                                    Photograph by Andy Horton 

Identification:     This crab, as its name suggests, has a shell the size of a pea. Or, at least the brown male Pea Crab has. This is the crab that can be seen swimming in estuaries over mussel beds. It the most active swimmer of all the British crabs. The female is quite different. She is almost twice the size of the male and usually yellow with a bright red blob on its soft shell. She is hardly able to crawl and cannot swim.   Female Pea Crab in a Mussel from Gullane Beach in East Lothian, Scotland Photograph by Martin MacDonald She does not need to because she spends her whole life inside in a live mussel shell. The male fertilises her eggs by swimming inside the mussel when it opens to feed. Similar species:  Breeding:  Habitat: Food:     Range: Additional Notes: This crab has been known to crawl out of clams served raw in French restaurants.   Information wanted: Please send any records of this crab, with location, date, who discovered it, how it was identified, prevalence, common name and any other details to  Shorewatch Project EMail Glaucus@hotmail.com.  All messages will receive a reply.      Shorewatch Project