#4480 · 🦀 crabs & other crustaceans
Pea Crab
🇳🇱 Erwtenkrabbetje ·Pinnotheres pisum
🦀 Crabs & other crustaceans 📍 in the Netherlands
7 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The pea crab , Pinnotheres pisum , is a small crab in the family Pinnotheridae that lives as a parasite in oysters, clams, mussels, and other species of bivalves.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 15 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #45 most seen of the crabs & other crustaceans in NL.
- 138 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1767 (259 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Pea Crab
- Nederlands
- Erwtenkrabbetje
- scientific name
- Pinnotheres pisum
- class
- Malacostraca
- order
- Decapoda
- family
- Pinnotheridae
- sightings in NL
- 15
- sightings in Europe
- 49
- sightings worldwide
- 138
- GBIF records in NL
- 569
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1767
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 304902, Wikidata Q2234799, GBIF 2226844, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.