Tiny brittle beauty

[Prajwal J Ullal]

ID: Porcelain crab

Like the name, this unique beauty seems to have a bizarre and painful defensive mechanism, when threatened or approached by a predator, these beauties shed off their limbs. But unlike the name suggests, these seem to be false crabs and are rather much closer to a lobster than an actual crab, though their body structure, very significantly, resembles a crab.This tiny beauty seemed to be feeding on the rock on which it was found.

EXIF:
Canon 550D
Canon 100mm macro + Raynox DCR 250
F/18
Shutterspeed 1/125
ISO 800
Handheld, External flash fired

location: Carter Road, Bandra

P.S.: The information about the Porcelain crab was shared by the knowledgeable marine life experts/enthusiasts.

[Roshni Patel]

Such a little lovely crab snapped. Wonderful.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice sighting. Lovely colour and textures on its body. Thanks for sharing the detailed behavior information.