ID Help! Red Eye Crab?

[gmatt]

Can anyone positively identify this crab? Is it bad crab? It's Nocturnal. It lives in a hole in the live rock. It moves fast. It comes out at night. I did not know i even had it. I've always found many empty snail shells in this tank. Never in my other tank. Then a couple of fish went missing. I mean gone! no sign what so ever! then one night at feeding time i noticed this claw coming out of this hole. then after lights out I saw him. He's about 3/4in. wide. Bright Red Eyes! looks evil. Sharp pincers.

Do you think its Bad? SPS doesn't seem to be disappearing. But snails and hermits seem to go away slowly now fish.

thanks for the help.

another shot

Claws!

 

[LeslieH]

Possibly Actaeodes tomentosus but definitely a xanthid. This species is a very common hitchhiker in live rock from the Indo Pacific. Xanthids are opportunistic feeders that will sample just about anything living, sick, or dead that they can reach. The species I mentioned is one of many xanthids that can have high levels of toxins in its gut which they get from food items such as zoanthids. Individual crabs do seem to have different food preferences because some posters have had them for years without losing any valuable live stock but other posters have observed them tearing into soft corals, eating snails, worms, shrimp, etc. I don't know if they can catch healthy fish; maybe they can if the fish is resting & doesn't react quickly enough.

 

[gmatt]

Anybody want this thing? He's actually pretty wicked looking.