Need help identifying this little crab

[RickyLaFleur]

Hello there, I'm new to R2R so I apologize in advance if I've posted this in

the wrong area. Seems like this would be the place to ask though. I work at a pet store and I am the aquatics specialist (The fish guy as some customers like to call it), today I discovered this little dude in one of our towers. He was hanging out in a crevice of a rock and seemed to be doing standard crab stuffs, the carapace and legs are similar to an emerald crab but it is not nearly as smooth and it's covered in tiny "hairs" it also has some blueish tints across it's body and pretty distinct black and white bands on it's legs. The pedipalps have a little bit of blue and orange aswell and one is slightly bigger than the other but I don't think that is indicative of anything, I've seen some emeralds that look like fiddler's before. Regardless I figured it would be worth mentioning. From some quick Google searches I've found porcelain crabs (petrolisthes galathinus) I only put the scientific so as not to be confused with the porcelain anemone crabs (neopetrolithes oshimai). Still I don't quite think that's what this dude is. I'm sorry if the pictures aren't quality enough and there isn't much to show scale. He is roughly the diameter of a dime, I can try to get a few more in a different specimen container if that will help anyone. Thank you!

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!
Put him in the sump. I'dont trust any kind crab in the tank.
There are too many species of crabs , it is really hard to have a positive ID.

 

[RickyLaFleur]

Welcome to R2R!!!
Put him in the sump. I'dont trust any kind crab in the tank.
There are too many species of crabs , it is really hard to have a positive ID.

Ok cool, thank you! That's where I put him, I figured it was a bit of a shot in the dark. Just figured I should try to find out what he is... Pretty cool looking little dude I have an empty Pico tank at home, I may just toss him in there and see what happens!

 

[BloopFish]

It's nearly impossible to ID a crab, especially if you don't know what region it came from. It is most definitely not a porcelain crab, it is definitely a true crab of some sort (Brachyura).

 

[BloopFish]

If you're interested in trying to dig up what kind of crab it is, the best database for crabs I have found is

Crab Database · Home

World's greatest crab encyclopedia

www.crabdatabase.info

If you go through this website, you'll notice the greatest difficulty of identifying crabs: Many species that have been identified have no pictures on the internet - many of these species have been first described in the 1800s and 1900s and have not been revisited or re-described since. In addition, there are countless species yet to be discovered.