Sebastian and Florida Coast Marine Life

[seth16]

i will try and get some pics tonight, and i will pm them to you guys

 

[chrisstie]

Ok cool.

just for reference heres some pics of fiddler crabs. toward the bottom you may note they dont always always have the big claws but these are the ones that im most familiar with and know these need air. if yours is a different species it may not be a fiddler at all?

Click here for crabs

 

[seth16]

Oh, well, most of what i caught were NOT fiddlers then, but i know a couple were.....uh oh, well, i hope they figure out that they can get up to the surface by the tubing and also i just jury0rigged a floating platform with PVC and gripped tape that hangs to the bottom....lol

 

[RicksReefs]

http://www.sms.si.edu/IRLFieldGuide/index.htm

 

[seth16]

WOw, everybody, checkout that link, that is a freakin awesome link, thank you SOOO much for that, my crabs are Green Porcelin Crabs, Stone Crabs, and Florida Mud Crabs. and also a couple florida fiddler crabs, but i hope they find the way to the air...

 

[seth16]

OK relooked at the pics, and what i have are mud crabs, i think...well, they are pretty darn close, and they are doing well in my tank, you guys should conscider them as a cheap cleanup crew ($ gets you alot of crabs and snails and hermits...lol)

Thank you all for helping me out, and whoever it was that posted before me, thank you, because that is the exact link that i wanted somsone to find for everyone to use as reference.

 

[sytanek]

lol, my first thought was mud crabs.

 

[seth16]

yeah, that is what i think they are, i found a really close picture of a mud crab and then compared them to what i have....

 

[chrisstie]

I think you need to look at the claws to be sure- and the coloration. The blue one you have im 99% sure is stone. Don't ever let that bugger pinch you, they HURT!

I always pick em up from the sides since they can't spin their claws around and get you but they are extremely strong for a crab, really amazes me!

I had a hitchiker crab living in a frag I got that was about the size of a dime.. banished him to the sump.. now he looks like a mud crab thats at least 2" so far. thats only in the last 3 months or so, what fast growers! Now i have to be careful when I reach in.. haha

 

[seth16]

well, next time i see them out at night, i will slowly cach tem and re-move them to another tank or something so thye dont trash my rockwork and all....

 

[seth16]

what should i look for in the claws, and they biggest oen is a blue-is color and stone crabs are brown and greenish colored....???

 

[RicksReefs]

if he has sharp points on the outside edges of the shell and is a lightning fast swimmer, it may be a blue crab. (the kind they put in sandwiches whole when they're soft)

 

[seth16]

eew

 

[cowboyswife]

Blue crabs make some killer crab cakes!

 

[RicksReefs]

little blue crabs are all over the lagoon grass flats and rubble zones.
here's a pic of one for comparison