Crab ID Please...

[mamagoose45]

Does anyone have an idea about an ID for this little crab?

He's super tiny, as in maximum of 1/8" across his carapace - he would definitely fit on my thumbnail. We found this little guy hanging onto an acro colony as we were dripping it. Assumption says that he's just a regular ol' acro crab. However, he doesn't look like one we've ever seen. He's currently living in a tupperware container in the sump until proven innocent.

Thanks for any help!

 

[mamagoose45]

Anybody?

 

[aseminolelady]

looks just like the 1 i have and mine is in my main tank. Only thing i have seen him eat is algae and dead stuff.

 

[Packersfan21]

It kind of looks like a baby decorator crab. I could be wrong though.

 

[livingcorals]

Type of gorilla crab. I would toss

 

[lhoy]

Seriously, guys, what damage can a 1/8" crab do in a reef. If it was hanging onto an acro, it is probably some type of commensal crab. They are awesome, put back on the colony it was on and enjoy watching the mutual relationship.

Hopefully Leslie will see this and chime in to speak to specific species.

Why does every crab get labeled as a Gorilla crab? Unless you can identity to Genus and Species. The myth of hairy = bad and smooth = good is nonsense too.

I think he looks awesome and have several commensal crabs in my tank. Shoot, I bought my red milli just because it had one in it!!

Lee

 

[livingcorals]

Why take a chance on the Xanthid species tho? Commensal crabs are little more suttle? Like most crabs, they are omnivorous with a strong inclination to be carnivores. No doubt that this creature would eat fish given the chance when it gets bigger. I would avoid most of these crabs in reef setups and systems with small fishes. Noted that they also prey upon the corals polyps or tissue. Also can effect cleaning crews.

They can be hard to get out after a while so why wait?

Ihoy, glad you have luck with the several commensal crabs in your tank. I however and know of a few others did not have such luck with them

 

[livingcorals]

Hey I got this site from my buddy when he had a problem with hitch hiker crabs.

http://home2.pacific.net.ph/~sweetyummy42/hitchcrabs.html

 

[mokeyz]

I ask again, as I have before, why are so many of us always so ready to kill things we find in our tanks???

mamagoose45, you will notice that the experts almost never identify creatures without the caveat that it "seems to be" or" may be", etc., that is because they really know how hard it is to definitively identify anything. So, from this you can infer that most of the time when people jump in to tell you to "toss" something that they really have no idea...

I think we should re-think being so willing to "toss", "kill", "flush", etc., all of these wonderful creatures. I often wonder what the death toll of bristle worms, flat worms and crabs with fuzzy legs, or black claws or whatever is on all of the marine forum sites?

IMHO,
Marlene

 

[lhoy]

Wonder how many have killed a Mithrax hitchhiker because it had fuzzy legs?

What isn't stated MOST of the time in a post about a crab eating something was whether or not the crab was ACTUALLY SEEN to kill the creature (inlcuding corals). Who knows (since crabs are so often scavengers) what actually killed the fish, invert, or caused the coral flesh to recede? No doubt on occasion it might be the crab. But how often are crabs found eating something that was ill, injured, or already dead? For that is one of their primary jobs!!

Lee

 

[mamagoose45]

No need to panic folks...he has not been sacrificed to the crab gods.

Instead, he was paired up with a lovely acro in the display and is enjoying his new home. I mainly was looking to see if anyone could ID him because he didn't look like any of the acro crabs I had seen before.