Tiny porcelain crabs live in abundance in Pacific Coast tide pools. They hide under stones, between mussels in mussel beds, among sponges and tucked into tufts of algae.Safely concealed, they eat by sweeping feathery arms through the water like fine-meshed nets to capture diatoms and other drifting plants and animals.
If its camouflage fails and a predator threatens, a porcelain crab can drop a claw or leg to distract the attacker and give itself a chance to scurry away. The crab lives to see another day, and the leg or claw grows back before long.