Hairy little crab all the way from Australia. Potential size?

[Tired]

 

This lil guy came in on some rock from Unique Corals. Maybe half an inch legspan, fairly upright body shape, not graceful at all if there's any flow on it whatsoever. I'm curious if anyone knows how big this particular crab might get. That'll dictate if it lives in a HOB 'fuge or goes to my LFS eventually- they're happy to try to find a buyer for big pinchy crabs. 

 

[Firefish15]

Not sure! Could just keep it until it gets too big for the HOB fuge.

[Reefkid88]

Possibly a European Shore Crab. Did a google search,and that is the closest thing I could find,and they say its a pest. But I could be wrong lol usually am.

 

https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/goodliving/posts/2019/06/crab-species-south-australia

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

So cool. I'd keep him, but the pinchy tips on the claws concern me. 🦀

[Tired]

The European shore crab is described as a pest because it's an invasive species there. Green porcelain crabs are invasive in some part of the US, but are fine for reef tanks- whether a critter is invasive in the wild is no guarantee of its suitability for aquariums. 

 

Some sort of shore crab might be likely, as this little guy stands upright enough to make me think it might be able to crawl on land. Maybe it needs to be a bit bigger to ID. 

 

If he gets any bigger than this, he's definitely not gonna be reef-safe. Whatever he is, he's not going in the reef, but he might make a cool 'fuge beast.