Crab ID

[Brofessor]

This crab just showed up in my girlfriend's tank. I've been searching for an hour and can't find anything that resembles it.

Apparently, it's very skittish and hasn't attacked anything yet since it has to have been in the tank for weeks, when the last live rock was added.

His right claw is much bigger than the left. The little left claw has spikes on it and is apparently what he uses to forage. I'd think it was a fiddler crab but I don't know how one would survive in salt water and with no access to open air.

 

[Peace River]

Let's see if we can get some help with an ID....

#reefsquad @Crabs McJones @KJ

 

[Crabs McJones]

Let's see if we can get some help with an ID....

#reefsquad @Crabs McJones @KJ

Will take a good hard look tomorrow. Couldnt find anything tonight.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks like a sally lightfoot or Spider crab

 

[mfinley24]

Didn't realize these were already posted and apparently I can't delete so... nevermind me. Haha.

 

[Brofessor]

Would it be wise to assume that, whatever species this crab is, he's probably harmful? Or is he a rare, magical wish granting crab?

You'd think with such unique coloration and morphology he'd be easy to ID, but I can't find anything close to it. Some sites I've seen say that some mud crabs have disproportionate claws.

 

[Katrina71]

Would it be wise to assume that, whatever species this crab is, he's probably harmful? Or is he a rare, magical wish granting crab?

You'd think with such unique coloration and morphology he'd be easy to ID, but I can't find anything close to it. Some sites I've seen say that some mud crabs have disproportionate claws.

@Crabs McJones is the only magical crab here. He has glitter.

 

[Dragon52]

Didn't realize these were already posted and apparently I can't delete so... nevermind me. Haha.

I was just fixing to ask why this was posted by 2 different people with the same pic.

 

[Brofessor]

I was just fixing to ask why this was posted by 2 different people with the same pic.

Yeah this is her crab. Her tank's a few weeks old now. We just don't want it to start off with a monster that will rip everything to pieces.

 

[Dragon52]

Yeah this is her crab. Her tank's a few weeks old now. We just don't want it to start off with a monster that will rip everything to pieces.

Totally understand, I'm not very familiar with the small crabs myself. Always learning.

 

[DEWreefing]

Claws look pointy I would pull it out.

 

[Brofessor]

Claws look pointy I would pull it out.

Hoping it doesn't come to that, but... The newest news of this tank is that the large brittle starfish (maybe 8 inches from ray tip to ray tip) is missing half of an arm.

Now we have to figure out if it was this crab that did it, if the starfish did it to itself, or if it was the 2.5 inch Caribbean pistol shrimp. The starfish tried to move into the pistol's burrow a few days ago and there was a lot of gunfire and starfish retreated. Could a big pistol shrimp harm a star enough that it would cast off a ray?

We're still stumped on what this crab is. It came from a rock out of the LFS's massive display tank and we hoped that they'd maybe added it purposefully but no dice.