Lesser Goldfinch

by | Dec 30, 2017 | Finch

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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.[2]

Description

Porcellana sayana is 13 millimetres (0.51 in) long,[3] and is red, with numerous whitish spots.[4][2][5] 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.[2] It has a fringe of setae along the front of its claws, which it uses in filter feeding.[4]

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.[2] 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.[3]

Taxonomy

Porcellana sayana was first described by William Elford Leach in 1820 as Pisidia sayana.[6] Its common names include "spotted porcelain crab"[2] and "Say's porcellanid".[5]

References

  1. ^ Masayuki Osawa (2010). "Porcellana sayana". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved February 6, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e Harriet Perry & Kirsten Larsen (June 4, 2004). "Porcellana sayana (Leach, 1820), spotted porcelain crab" (PDF). A Picture Guide to Shelf Invertebrates from the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission. Retrieved February 6, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Edward E. Ruppert & Richard S. Fox (1988). "Porcelain crabs". Seashore Animals of the Southeast: a Guide to Common Shallow-water Invertebrates of the Southeastern Atlantic Coast. University of South Carolina Press. pp. 249–250. ISBN 978-0-87249-535-7.
  4. ^ a b Susan B. Rothschild (2004). "Sandy beaches". Beachcomber's Guide to Gulf Coast Marine Life: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida (3rd ed.). Taylor Trade Publications. pp. 21–38. ISBN 978-1-58979-061-2.
  5. ^ a b Gilbert L. Voss (2002). "Section Anomura". Seashore Life of Florida and the Caribbean. Courier Dover Publications. pp. 92–95. ISBN 978-0-486-42068-4.
  6. ^ Masayuki Osawa & Patsy A. McLaughlin (2010). "Annotated checklist of anomuran decapod crustaceans of the world (exclusive of the Kiwaoidea and families Chirostylidae and Galatheidae of the Galatheoidea) Part II – Porcellanidae" (PDF). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Suppl. 23: 109–129. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-02.
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