Gorilla crab? ID please

[teo241]

Saw it for two seconds then it crawled under a rock. Had to remove half the rock in the tank to get it.

I've had a few unexplained losses, now I think I know why.

 

[OKDOHK]

Try looking up, Actaeodes tomentosus.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Try looking up, Actaeodes tomentosus.

A member of the xanthid family. They can and will catch and eat snails, hermits and fish.

 

[teo241]

Thanks, that is definitely right. Glad I dismantled the tank to remove it, was huge, body 1 inch across.

 

[LeslieH]

Don't condemn the whole family. Many of the small ones are algae eaters & scavengers that don't go after live critters.

+1 for Actaeodes tomentosus. This species is a case in point. It lives in rock crevices and holes under corals and eats algae, debris, small sandbed animals like worms & tiny snails, and dead things. If offered pieces of fish or clam it will happily eat it but normally ignore hermits, fish, etc. The species is well known to be dangerous for humans to eat as they accumulate paralytic toxins as a result of the cyanobacteria which is a major food source for them.