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ID hermit crab


ebbaxter0422

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Help me ID my crab amadeus!

I added him to my tank about three months ago, but have no clue what species he is. I have researched extensively but have not had success. He is about the width of a golf ball. He has not been aggressive to my other inverts (which are all smaller than him). He appears to try to filter the water!

I have found a video of him on you tube that someone posted, but the owner of the video will not respond.

 

I would greatly appreciate any help!!!

 

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a crab like amadeus by ebbaxter0422, on Flickr

 

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1000000712 by ebbaxter0422, on Flickr

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gulf of mexico. Some kid from my high school thought it would be cool to steal one and he couldn't take care of it. seeing as we live in missouri i took it from him and put it in my tank. i think he said it was from galveston, tx.

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Your right there seems to be no info on a filter feeding hermit out there that I can see, if that is what he is doing.

 

I hope someone here knows the species, I would like one after seeing the video :P

 

Good Luck!

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Well, he also has enjoys fish flakes and small marine pellets. So i'm thinking overall some kind of omnivore/scavenger. I am a little worried about how big he will get though, he has already molted in the 3 months I have had him.

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Cibanerus and Pagurus are both common species in that area. It is possible you have one of the oddball white ones like happens with blue legs and common red ref hermits. It's not true pigment loss but looks that way.

 

Also, it's not filter feeding. Its just cleaning antenna and such. All my hermits of different species do this.

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Cibanerus and Pagurus are both common species in that area. It is possible you have one of the oddball white ones like happens with blue legs and common red ref hermits. It's not true pigment loss but looks that way.

 

Also, it's not filter feeding. Its just cleaning antenna and such. All my hermits of different species do this.

 

Very interesting. He only does the antenna "wave" when I put dried phytoplankton into the aquarium.

What are the complete names of the crabs you are thinking of? Pagurus is a genus, and I can't seem to find anything on "cibanerus".

 

And about the pigment loss. You may be right, but I find it very hard to believe that I'm finding other people with the same type of crab that also do not have any pigment except a gray back, like the youtube video I posted of someone else.

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I spelled it wrong. It's Clibanarius. I found some articles on hermits local to that area of Texas and a scientific whitepaper on the two genus fighting over territory and shells. The Clibanarius apparently always wins over Pagurus even when the Pagurus is much much larger. Apparently it is a pretty mellow hermit.

 

All my hermits do the antenna thing when food goes in the water as well, but they do not filter feed. I'm sure it is them smelling their environment and getting excited over food.

 

As far as the pigment thing goes, I have about 20 pigment-less common mexican red reef hermits. Normally they are red or brown, but mine are grey white. I pick them out of tanks at the LFS when I go scouting for oddball species that get mixed into their common section. It is really common thing to happen and you would be surprised how many people do not know it is still just a common reef, and therefore post pics and video of it to get ID's, like you.

 

Those two are indeed Genus names. The whitepaper did not give exact species but if you check that hermit ID site people linked earlier, it might help you narrow it down.

 

There are also some invert / hermit specialists over on reefcentral if you want to try there.

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I spelled it wrong. It's Clibanarius. I found some articles on hermits local to that area of Texas and a scientific whitepaper on the two genus fighting over territory and shells. The Clibanarius apparently always wins over Pagurus even when the Pagurus is much much larger. Apparently it is a pretty mellow hermit.

 

All my hermits do the antenna thing when food goes in the water as well, but they do not filter feed. I'm sure it is them smelling their environment and getting excited over food.

 

As far as the pigment thing goes, I have about 20 pigment-less common mexican red reef hermits. Normally they are red or brown, but mine are grey white. I pick them out of tanks at the LFS when I go scouting for oddball species that get mixed into their common section. It is really common thing to happen and you would be surprised how many people do not know it is still just a common reef, and therefore post pics and video of it to get ID's, like you.

 

Those two are indeed Genus names. The whitepaper did not give exact species but if you check that hermit ID site people linked earlier, it might help you narrow it down.

 

There are also some invert / hermit specialists over on reefcentral if you want to try there.

 

Thanks a lot! I already checked that website that was linked here. None of those look close, I can tell mainly from the eyes. The claws are also identical so thats a big difference from some of the crabs I've been looking up. He also looked a lot bigger than any of those crabs. I don't know if I said it earlier but he is golf ball sized if not bigger, while his shell is about 3/4 size of a tenis ball. I have managed to successfully look at EVERY crab ID thread in the identification forum. Time to start searching elsewhere I guess :P

 

But for now I might have to agree with you. It looks similar to some version of Pagurus, most likely the long-clawed one. I guess I'll have to wait until he molts again! Maybe in a year and after a few molts he'll have more pigmentation. The last one gave him some symmetrical brown areas on either side of his body and antenna.

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Looks like a hermit crab, I thought they were supposed to be land dwellers only. He might be pulling oxygen out of the water to breathe.

 

Read this ….. from yahoo

 

OK there are two types of Hermit Crabs The Marine Varieties and the Terrestrial or Land Varieties.

 

The Marine types live full time under the water in the ocean and in tide pools, they have fully functioning gills and are well know scavengers and the cleaning crew of the sea bed along with starfish, sand dollars, shrimps to name just a few.

 

The terrestrial or Land Hermit Crab can in fact stay underwater for quite a long period of time. Though they only have modified gills, which require humid and warm air in order to breathe and properly absorb and extract the oxygen out of the air, since they have both water and an air pocket within their shell, they can actually use that air pocket with the water to extract the oxygen out of the water for a small period of time for breathing.

Now this can not be full time nor for too long in captivity because most pet land hermit crab owners do not provide large enough water pools or properly oxygenate the water through pumps.

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Looks like a hermit crab, I thought they were supposed to be land dwellers only. He might be pulling oxygen out of the water to breathe.

 

Read this ….. from yahoo

 

OK there are two types of Hermit Crabs The Marine Varieties and the Terrestrial or Land Varieties.

 

The Marine types live full time under the water in the ocean and in tide pools, they have fully functioning gills and are well know scavengers and the cleaning crew of the sea bed along with starfish, sand dollars, shrimps to name just a few.

 

The terrestrial or Land Hermit Crab can in fact stay underwater for quite a long period of time. Though they only have modified gills, which require humid and warm air in order to breathe and properly absorb and extract the oxygen out of the air, since they have both water and an air pocket within their shell, they can actually use that air pocket with the water to extract the oxygen out of the water for a small period of time for breathing.

Now this can not be full time nor for too long in captivity because most pet land hermit crab owners do not provide large enough water pools or properly oxygenate the water through pumps.

 

This info is true. However, I know for a fact that it is a marine hermit crab. One of the pictures I have, but haven't posted is from the same species of crab, just on a beach out of water. Land hermit crabs would not live in salt water for extended periods of time. I do not know hold old this hermit crab is, but I know that I've had him for three months.

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Most hermit crabs are marine species, and they are all omnivores. The video likely shows filter feeding because the antennae are branched like a feather, similar to the rock-dwelling hermits in the genus Paguritta (see builder anthony's link). Notice how most other hermit genera have simpler antennae.

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