Dead or Molt? Emerald Crab

[kamikaze483]

Trying to decide if this crab is dead or if this is a molt... and if its a molt whether the crab is still inside. Like the crab so don't want to flush if he's not dead. Also don't want dead crab fouling up my aquarium.

Pic in attachment.

 

[AlSimmons]

Take it out of the tank and give it a whiff. You should be able to tell right away whether it's dead or not.

 

[kevin21]

Tough to tell from a picture but molts are typically just a shell. To the touch, they re more hollow than solid. You should be able to tell easily if it is a dead crab or molt, just by feeling if it is solid or hollow.

 

[homer1475]

Really hard to tell from a pic, but typically a crab molt will have a small "flap" in the back of its shell where it walked out of the old shell. Easy enough to tell though, as others stated, a molt is hollow, and a dead crab would be the full body with guts.