Crab ID? Coral eater?

[loweryphil]

 

[KJ]

Mithrax crab.

 

[loweryphil]

Good bad?

 

[loweryphil]

Reef safe?

 

[KJ]

Emerald Crab can be a good scavenger for your tank. Use caution if you have a reef tank with snails and corals. They may eat or nip at coral polyps.

 

[Mike N]

That doesnt look like an emerald to me. I'm thinking gorilla crab or something similar
I could be wrong, but these spike features aren't really found on emerald claws:

 

[KJ]

Clinging channel crab, Mithrax.

 

[Mike N]

Emerald Crab can be a good scavenger for your tank.

lol

 

[loweryphil]

Im confused!!

 

[KJ]

lol

Use caution if you have a reef tank with snails and corals. They may eat or nip at coral polyps.

 

[Mike N]

IMO there isn't a positive ID yet. Its not emerald, its not gorilla (as I suggested). I don't think its channel clinging crab either, but I'll defer to KJ.

 

[KJ]

@Maritimer

 

[loweryphil]

Its been in there since i set it up. And noticed no damage. Just wanting an id once and for all. Rather than scratching my head and freaking out.

 

[Maritimer]

It's for sure not an emerald - though it does seem to have an emerald's spoon-shaped claw tips, which are great for scraping algae from rock.

It may or may not be a Mithrax, but I'm thinking it's not the clinging channel crab - that guy's got a row of spines running down claws that are much more slender than our subject's, whereas Loweryphil's crab has an interesting arrangement of setae (hairs) on its claws. Those black & white banded legs seem fairly distinctive, as well.

Not one I've seen before, but a cool crab.

Maybe a sump-crab?

~Bruce

 

[loweryphil]

Hmmm well the claw shapes do suggest algae eater so maybe not a bad guy?

 

[loweryphil]

I think its a type of channel crab.