Creature Feature =Id

[cokeandsmile]

oes anyone have a clue what kind of crab this is came off a brain coral pretty interesting critter.

 

[thecichlidpleco]

Crazy mutant hybrid skeleton head crab, no idea but very interesting

 

[crsswift70]

Wow.. looks like a cross between a fly, spider and crab. Oh.. and skeletor. Truth is stranger than fiction.

 

[tmantaylor18]

Thanks, I am going to have nightmares now.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

My guess would be a Slipper Lobster:
http://wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/arthropoda/lobsters/sliplobsters.htm

 

[Tang Salad]

It looks more like a spider than a crab.
Vaguely like this one, but with crazy freakish alien eyes:

From Melev's Site
Photo by Amy Larsan

 

[StunnaShadez]

nice interesting find, never seen anything like it before. kind of looks like a regular jumping spider. doesnt look reef safe to me. try to keep it somewhere alive until you find out about it.

 

[greenbean36191]

It's some sort of gall crab. AFAIK, they're harmless commensals that just use the coral as a home. The big dark patches aren't eyes. They're just shields that it uses to block the entrance to the hole it lives in.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Nice ID Greenbean. Guess it's a case of looking way more menacing than it really is. Greenbean, besides the blocking of the entrance, could this be one of those critters that has developed particular features, and or markings, in order to fool predators into thinking it is much more dangerous?

 

[Diatome]

Looking more menacing than it really is? I bet the thing is saying "help me...help me!" right now. :eek1:

 

[Onte]

I'm not usually put off by spiders and other creepy things but that thing wins the prize. I vote you kill it with fire.

**Not really, but I'm definitely going to leave the thread and never open it again. That is one horrible-looking critter. It's staring into your soul with its eyes.

 

[cokeandsmile]

thanks for info.

 

[spleify]

Yeah, I can't help ID that thing. But I can tell you it's freakin me out man.
Someone said keep it...... I wouldn't keep that thing within two counties of my house......NASTY!!!!

Spleify

 

[VacavilleFC3S]

send it to me lol, i have to say that goes in my creepy pics file.

 

[Ritten]

I have the heebie jeebies now. My scalp is tingling and the whole bit.

 

[jimroth]

It's a kind of crab (gall crab? squat lobster?) that lives in brain coral. I had some (2) in a favia head for a couple of years. Dr. Ron used to use my photo on his website, but it's gone now. The head is like a shield to block up the hole. I never saw the whole body while they were alive, but I did see the occasional molted skeleton. They didn't seem to hurt the coral much, but once they were gone the hole healed up within weeks.

 

[greenbean36191]

I don't think the markings are meant to be a defense against visual predators. As adults you wouldn't normally find these guys wandering anywhere where they would be exposed for attack. They're primary defense is just to hide in the gall they form in the coral skeleton.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Thanks greenbean and Jim....you learn something new every day in this hobby