About Porcellana sayana (Leach, 1820)
Porcellana sayana reaches 13 millimetres (0.51 in) in length, and has a red body covered in numerous whitish spots. It can be told apart from related species by the structure of its first pereiopod: the carpus, the final leg segment before the claw, carries a forward-projecting lobe. A fringe of setae runs along the front of its claws, which the species uses for filter feeding. This porcelain crab is distributed along the western Atlantic coast, ranging from Cape Hatteras in the United States down to Brazil, and including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. It inhabits shallow water at depths up to 92 metres (302 ft), living among rocks and oyster shells, or acting as a commensal of the hermit crabs Pagurus pollicaris and Petrochirus diogenes. Just like another porcelain crab, Petrolisthes galathinus, Porcellana sayana is parasitized by the bopyrid isopod Aporobopyrus curtatus, which resides in the porcelain crab's gill chamber.
