‘Porcelain’-like creature with ‘large’ claws found on island. It’s a new species
On an island in northeast India, a “porcelain”-like creature with “large” claws tucked itself under rocks and bricks, but its hiding place wasn’t quite hidden enough.
Passing scientists spotted the speckled animal — and discovered a new species.
A team of researchers visited an island of West Bengal in 2023 for wildlife surveys of the mangrove forest, according to a study published May 2 in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa.
During the visit, researchers found unfamiliar-looking crabs, the study said. They took a closer look at the “distinctive” animals and realized they’d discovered a new species: Petrolisthes tanmayi, or Bhattacharya’s porcelain crab.
Bhattacharya’s porcelain crabs have “roughly rectangular” bodies, measuring less than an inch in length and width, the study said. Their claws are “large,” “flattened” and slightly different sizes. Their eyes are “small,” and their body texture is “smooth.”
A photo shows the “slate-brown” new species and its “light brown” speckles.
Bhattacharya’s porcelain crabs were found “under pebbles and bricks” on the “intertidal zone” of the beach, but little is known about their lifestyle, the study said.
The new species tends to gather “under those bricks and pebbles,” preferring slightly muddy ground rather than fully sandy areas, study co-author Subhadeep Maiti told McClatchy News via email. When researchers turned over these hiding places, the crabs “left the places quickly” in search of another hiding spot. “If (a crab) is caught by hand, it shows aggressiveness sometimes by opening its claws.”
Bhattacharya’s porcelain crabs are probably a “filter feeder, feed(ing) on microorganisms like planktons or suspended materials in water,” Maiti said.
Researchers said they named the new species after Tanmay Bhattacharya, a “former Professor of Zoology (at) Vidyasagar University,” because of “his notable taxonomic contribution and for his constant guidance and support to us.”
So far, Bhattacharya’s porcelain crabs have only been found on a small island along the coast of West Bengal, a state of northeastern India that borders Bangladesh.
A video shared on YouTube by @sagar1969m shows the small island where the new species lives.
The new species was identified by its DNA, body shape and size, claw size, texture and other subtle physical features, the study said.
The research team included Priti Ranjan Pahari, Shubhrajyoti Das, Mitali Das and Subhadeep Maiti.
This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 5:53 AM with the headline "‘Porcelain’-like creature with ‘large’ claws found on island. It’s a new species."
