Name that crab

[superman]

I found this crab wandering around the old aquarium this evening. I was so surprised by the site of it I had to turn the lights on and snap pics and video. Now I am very aware that hitchhikers come along with the trade, but this guy is amazing. I've had my aquarium for 6 years. It has been through 2 moves, a heater malfunction, vigorous cleaning of rocks (albeit in tank water), and who knows what else. There has been no addition of anything to the aquarium during the span (all my coral comes in small frag form), so I was pretty excited to make this find. He's orange/peach and you couldn't tell him from a piece of liverock if he didn't move. One he's not moving, he literally looks like a rock, and when he moves, it's like a transformer. Too cool. But the question is, what kind of crab is this? I did some google searching, book searching, and the usual suspects for SWF websites and found nothing. I'd appreciate any help. I don't suppose I care what he eats or prefers because if its lived this long I don't think I need to change anything.

Sorry about the sideways pic, my phone sent it that way.

 

[flower]

I don't know what it is...Ii just think it's amazing what is living in our tanks that we never noticed in many years. The critters are so good at blending in. We really do have a tiny chunk of the ocean in our homes.

 

[superman]

It really is amazing. I like to look at my tank at night with a flash light at least once a night, and at all different times. So the fact that a crab that big has eluded me so long just cracks me up. He's a little bit bigger than a medium-large emerald crab. I doubt I'll ever see it again haha.

 

[spanko]

Some type of Mithrax sp. me thinks.

 

[superman]

That was my initial though. The odd shape of his front claws kind of steered me from that. However, his back legs are similar to that of a mithrax. I have a pretty good video on my phone, but haven't put it on youtube so I can post here. Also, when i tried to urge it out with a feeding stick, instead of heading for the rock behind it, it attempted to burrow straight down into the sand.

 

[slice]

If you really want to find out, you*may* find your crab here:
http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/s17/s17rbz.pdf
Even if you don't, it is a somewhat interesting read.

 

[eemorris]

Pretty sure that's a gorilla crab. We had one as a hitch-hiker on live rock a few years back and it took us weeks to finally get him out of the rock. He lost a claw in the process, but is now happily living at my LFS (Northside Aquatics).

 

[kiefers]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Superman http:///t/391147/name-that-crab#post_3467360
I found this crab wandering around the old aquarium this evening. I was so surprised by the site of it I had to turn the lights on and snap pics and video. Now I am very aware that hitchhikers come along with the trade, but this guy is amazing. I've had my aquarium for 6 years. It has been through 2 moves, a heater malfunction, vigorous cleaning of rocks (albeit in tank water), and who knows what else. There has been no addition of anything to the aquarium during the span (all my coral comes in small frag form), so I was pretty excited to make this find. He's orange/peach and you couldn't tell him from a piece of liverock if he didn't move. One he's not moving, he literally looks like a rock, and when he moves, it's like a transformer. Too cool. But the question is, what kind of crab is this? I did some google searching, book searching, and the usual suspects for SWF websites and found nothing. I'd appreciate any help. I don't suppose I care what he eats or prefers because if its lived this long I don't think I need to change anything.

Sorry about the sideways pic, my phone sent it that way.
My ex-wife.

 

[superman]

As predicted, I haven't seen it since that night.