Crab ID

[JustinRice]

Hello,

The last few months i have been noticing the fish who reside in the rocks have been slowly MIA. There would be no bodies or remains found in the tank anywhere.

About 3 weeks ago i had a friend over and he pointed out this black/greyish crab with red eyes. He kind of resembled a Emerald crab that i had lost about 6 months ago. Not knowing the difference i just left him in the tank thinking he was the emerald.

I then started thinking, he must not be the emerald crab. as i beleive he is a little smaller then the emerald that went missing. I am now blaming him for all the fish that have been going missing. I finally caught the poor guy last night and he is living in a fish bowl now.... Just wondering if anyoen might know what kind of crab he is. i will post some pics when i get home from work this evening.

Also does anyone have any idea of a website i could use to help id him?

Thanks, Justin

 

[dc]

I think crabs are pretty hard to id, but here's a place to look

http://www.nhm.org/guana/bvi-invt/bvi-surv/anom-g02.htm

And:

[welcome]

 

[ACBlinky]

Google Xanthid crabs, that should give you a starting point. There are quite a few hitchhiking crabs with red eyes, many haven't even been catalogued AFAIK and can't be identified beyond their genus (so you might get an ID of Xanthid sp., but not the exact species of Xanthid), but you may get lucky if you post pictures. Chances are it's not reef-safe; I'd toss it in the sump or give it to the LFS or someone with a FOWLR.