pea crab

noun

any of several tiny crabs of the family Pinnotheridae, the female of which lives as a commensal in the shells of bivalve mollusks.

Words nearby pea crab

pe-tsai cabbage, pea, pea aphid, pea bean, pea coal, pea crab, pea green, pea jacket, pea rifle, pea soup, pea tree

Origin of pea crab

First recorded in 1830–40

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for pea crab

When the pea-crab discovers a supply of food he brings it to his friend, the Pinna, to be divided equally.
Digby Heathcote|W.H.G. Kingston
Inquiline, in′kwi-lin, adj. living in the abode of another, as a pea-crab in an oyster-shell.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M)|Various

British Dictionary definitions for pea crab

pea crab

noun

any of various globular soft-bodied crabs of the genus Pinnotheres and related genera that live commensally in the mantles of certain bivalves

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012