Need help to identify a crab
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najer
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Bump, @ReefSquad ?
Bleigh
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Not sure on that one. IHave a couple of guesses. But I suspect that it would be more prudent to wait for someone who has more knowledge.
Timfish
Crusty Old Salt
I always look at teh claws and the back pair of legs and to see if it has filter feeding mouthparts which obvioulsy you're doesn't have. Crabs that are algae eaters will have claws designed for removing algae like scrapers of some kind and the back pair fo legs will look similar to the first pair and are for hanging onto rock. Any time the back pair are flattened out even marginally they are used for swimming and that indicates a preditary crab. If the front claws are for grabbing and hanging on it's likely preditary. Either or both is reason to isolate it in my opinion. But you do need to look close at teh claws.
Here's a large Sally Lightfoot molt for example. Clearly the back legs are not flattened like the back legs of your crab but are only different in size compared to the front legs. Superficially however it does look like the front claws are huge and designed for holding onto prey but closer examination shows the scrapers for removing algae from rocks. The scrapers along with hte very small size of the "pincher" part of the claws compared to the over all size show it'd designed for something very different than the claw of your crab which looks to me to be a species of rock crab.
Here's a large Sally Lightfoot molt for example. Clearly the back legs are not flattened like the back legs of your crab but are only different in size compared to the front legs. Superficially however it does look like the front claws are huge and designed for holding onto prey but closer examination shows the scrapers for removing algae from rocks. The scrapers along with hte very small size of the "pincher" part of the claws compared to the over all size show it'd designed for something very different than the claw of your crab which looks to me to be a species of rock crab.
Bleigh
The best bad influence
Reef Squad
Partner Member 2024
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
Hospitality Award
RASOC Member
CRC Member
My Tank Thread
I always look at teh claws and the back pair of legs and to see if it has filter feeding mouthparts which obvioulsy you're doesn't have. Crabs that are algae eaters will have claws designed for removing algae like scrapers of some kind and the back pair fo legs will look similar to the first pair and are for hanging onto rock. Any time the back pair are flattened out even marginally they are used for swimming and that indicates a preditary crab. If the front claws are for grabbing and hanging on it's likely preditary. Either or both is reason to isolate it in my opinion. But you do need to look close at teh claws.
Here's a large Sally Lightfoot molt for example. Clearly the back legs are not flattened like the back legs of your crab but are only different in size compared to the front legs. Superficially however it does look like the front claws are huge and designed for holding onto prey but closer examination shows the scrapers for removing algae from rocks. The scrapers along with hte very small size of the "pincher" part of the claws compared to the over all size show it'd designed for something very different than the claw of your crab which looks to me to be a species of rock crab.
Very interesting information. Another example of structure denoting function.
Try Googling Actaeodes Tomentosus and see if it's close.
