Crab id

[Hijinks_78]

I would bet money on it. Compare it to other species of gall crabs, and there is a striking resemblance in body structure

https://bioone.org/ContentImages/Journals/invs/28/5/IS13064/graphic/IS13064_F1.gif

In addition, I am going to say I am 100% certain it is NOT a tick or mite or sea spider because it has 10 appendages, not 4. It is certainly a type of crab, and only the gall crab fits the physical description and your description of how you found it.

Back in it goes I suppose...

 

[KJ]

Are you guys 100% on the ID? I

Yes

 

[45ZoaGarden]

It also has pincers/ claws. Ticks do not have claws..

 

[Michael Lane]

I would be excited to find that. I'd personally keep him, but my favorite crab was an acro crab.

 

[jomatty]

The bad news (I think) is that the crab did not make it. By the time I added it back it had not appreciated being out of the tank for around an hour while I tried to figure out what to do. It was still alive though. I tried to add it gently back but the flow pushed it into the water column and first the yellow tank hit and then the melanarus wrasse finished the job. Who knows maybe there is another one in there somewhere...