Petrolisthes novaezelandiae facts for kids

The Petrolisthes novaezelandiae, also known as the red half crab or red false crab, is a cool type of porcelain crab. It lives in the waters around New Zealand.

What Does the Red Half Crab Look Like?

This crab has a flat, round body shell called a carapace. Its shell is covered in short, soft hairs. The shell can grow up to 12 millimeters long and 12.5 millimeters wide. That's about half an inch!

Male red half crabs are usually a dull reddish or tan-brown color. Female crabs are often greyish-brown. They sometimes have small red spots on their bodies. The male crabs also have larger claws, called chelae, than the females.

Where Do Red Half Crabs Live?

The red half crab is found only in New Zealand. It lives in many places there, even as far south as the Auckland Islands. You can often find these crabs hiding under rocks. They also like to live among broken shells.

Sometimes, they live in the roots of large seaweeds, like Macrocystis species. These crabs usually do not live where the tide goes in and out (the intertidal zone). Instead, they prefer deeper water. You can find them from about 3 meters (10 feet) to 75 meters (246 feet) deep.