2021.5/13 RIP, Little Crab

     "Would you die before I write a article about you, little crab?"

     Then he dies today. The pea crab I found on 2/18 when I was cooking Spaghetti alle vongole, is confirmed to be dead today (5/13). He lives in my house for 84 days, almost 3 months.

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     When I was removing sands of clam (あさり) on 2/18, I found there is a tiny pea crab was hiding in the clam pack.

Spaghetti alle vongole I cooked that day

     Its scientific name is Pinnotheres sinensis Shen, and called "オオシロピンノ" in Japanese, which means "Big White Pea Crab". It is a parasite 1cm crab lives with clams or oysters. Female pea crabs would live inside the shell all their lives, and feed by what clams or oyster eat. Male pea crabs live around clams or oysters.

     Pea crab is regarded as parasite because it would take some food away from its host. Yes, pea crab would not eat clam's meat, that's what human does.

     About pea crab, people know very less about them. So I want to talk about my experience as well as some knowledge I gained from other Japanese blogs.

     Environment for pea crab:

     Sea: Artificial seawater would be good enough. For the previous pea crab I tried to keep it in salt water then he died very soon.

     Temperature: 15-25°c. However it would quit digging into sand if the temperature is over 20°c.

     Fish tank: Either size is ok. Pea crab is so tiny that most of tank is big enough for it. However, it is difficult to keep the sea water in good condition in small size aquarium.

     Filter: Not required. But I use it.

     Sand: Pea crab would dig into sand while sleeping, so it is better to put the sand.

     Land is not required since pea crab would never leave the water.

     What pea crab eats and its habit:

     Pea crab is nocturnal, so it will dig into sand to sleep during day time, and come out around 8 or 9 pm.

     I've never really seen my pea crab eating, but according to some YouTube videos other people's pea crabs do eat things like crayfish food. For me I make crayfish food smaller and feed him... still unknown if he ate it or not.

     For longevity, it is still unknown. Some says one year, but for most of cases they live for two or three months in fish tank.

     Pea crab doesn't do much. Most of time it just cleans its own chela.

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     I haven't kept animals for many years. My family used to have fish tank until I was eighth grade, and that's why when I found a pea crab inside the clam pack, I just decide to keep it without hesitation. I knew it would not be difficult. 

     However I still kept searching for information and checking other people's experiences like crazy for the first two weeks. But this is not that difficult.

     Maybe the only difficult thing is that, from the moment I kept it, I had already knew that he would not be together with us for not so long time.

     We decided to call him Mr. Crab at first, but me and Michelle still call him Little Crab (小螃蟹) anywhere.

     Goodbye, little crab. It's our pleasures to meet you in the dark days of human history.