orange crab ID

[Thunil]

Hey everybody,

I've had this crab in my LR since 2005 and i only just caught him the other day and I can't find a pic or description of him anywhere on the net so i thought I'd ask you guys.

Here's the pic

 

over the years i have had a couple of fish disappear and some corals get "bite" marks and their polyps retract and don't re-appear. Could this guy be the culprit?

 

Any input would be appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Daniel

[lakshwadeep]

Try looking here:

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchcrabs.html

[Thunil]

Thanks for the reply, I've had a look at that sight a couple of times and i cant find a crab that looks like him.

[lakshwadeep]

If you have a refugium, you could "ban" the crab to there.

[Sctn4Elk]

Looks like a Xanthidae to me....

[Nick's Reef]

it looks like a stone crab. Which is deffinatly not reef safe.

[Thunil]

Thanks for the replies, I'll chuck him in the fuge

[zjayz]

ive got a similar one, how do you catch them i have a turkey baster but if i suck him up it woud be smashed to bits,

 

and he is always in hard to get to places

thanks

[johnmaloney]

It does look like a small stone crab, except the body isn't quite the same shape. No idea what kind of crab, doesn't look reef safe. Those claws are for attacking, you can tell by the ridges inside the claw.

[Rick12341]

It does look like a small stone crab, except the body isn't quite the same shape. No idea what kind of crab, doesn't look reef safe. Those claws are for attacking, you can tell by the ridges inside the claw.

 

black tips on the claews ususally mean trouble Looks like a good candidate for the sump