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02/03/2008, 12:22 AM
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#1 |
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Registered Member
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 1,631
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Crab Identification Please
Anyone know what type of crab this is and if it's harmful or not? Thanks
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15g Nano 72g reef + 29g sump/fuge |
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02/03/2008, 12:34 AM
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#2 |
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King of the white corals
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,239
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It looks like it did a number on that snail
ive never seen one...you might want to look here and see if you can locate it... http://home2.pacific.net.ph/~sweetyu...itchcrabs.html
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I like holding hands, snuggling, and long walks on the beach |
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02/03/2008, 12:51 AM
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#3 |
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Premium Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 3,178
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That's a commensal crab in the family Pinnotheridae. Notice how the carapace (the external covering) is soft & translucent? That's a pretty good indication it's one of the internal commensals. They live inside bivalves and echinoderms. Pinnotherids with harder carapaces are found in burrows & tubes of other animals like polychaetes, tube anemones, and echiuroids. So what kind of clams or cukes do you have in your tank?
Check out this link for a similar looking species from a gaper clam: http://www.beachwatchers.wsu.edu/ezi...Pinnixasp..htm
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Cheers, Leslie So many worms, so little time... Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County |
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02/03/2008, 09:12 AM
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#4 |
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Registered Member
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 1,631
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You are good!
To make a long story short, my friend went to eat at McCormick & Schmick's. She ordered raw oysters (or something like that) and found this little guy still alive and didn't have the heart to kill it, so she brought it to me. She said I had to save it!  I had no idea what type of crab it was, so I left it in a small cup and added saltwater and an empty shell to give it something to grab on to. I have a small 10g tank that's setup as a quarantine and was thinking of putting him in there. From what I've read (searching pea crabs), this little guy doesn't seem harmful if I don't have any clams in the tank. Will he survive if I added some live rock to give him something to hide in? I added some flake food and he appeared to be eating... Thanks! 
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15g Nano 72g reef + 29g sump/fuge |
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02/03/2008, 09:32 AM
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#5 |
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Premium Member
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Wow, that's quite a find! If he was living on an oyster, that probably means he's from colder waters (I'm not sure though). I don't know if he'll survive without a 'host' oyster, but if there's nothing to prey on him I don't really see why not. You might try running some searches on oysters, see what the water temps are where they're collected, and try to make your tank as close as reasonably possible -- if they're from really cold water, you might have trouble (unless you want to invest in a chiller but somehow I doubt it
 )
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"The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea." - Isak Dinesen Current Tank Info: 150g mixed reef, 30g sump/refugium, LED lighting, 100lbs LR, coral beauty, flame angel, blue & yellow tangs, gobies, damsels, 6-line wrasse, lawnmower blenny, dottyback, clown pair, rabbitfish, shrimp, crabs, CUC. |
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02/03/2008, 12:14 PM
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#6 |
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Premium Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 3,178
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I really don't know if it will survive on it's own in a tank. That's a female. Once a female juvenile settles in an oyster it stays there for the rest of it's life. Oysters & clams filter phytoplankton & tiny animals out of the water, then convey them to the mouth using mucus strings. A pinnotherid like this intercepts the mucus string & eats it. So there's the issue of food. But why not try it? Just keep it in a small flow-through container so it will be safe and give it something to crawl into because it's used to living in very tight quarters.
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Cheers, Leslie So many worms, so little time... Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County |
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