Porcelain Crab???

[jhmuse]

I have included a link that contains a picture of my hitchhiker's twin brother. It is labeled as a porcelain crab, but it is different than any other I have seen. Is the ID correct?

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_1...ategory=4&category_search=63&root_parent_id=4


Thanks,

Jake

 

[John_Brandt]

Yes, that is a "Porcelain crab"; but I think they may have the scientific name wrong.


Here is another species of "Porcelain crab" (Neopetrolisthes sp.)

 

[jhmuse]

Wow, those claws look very menacing. I thought it would be pick at my softies, but I guess it is harmless.

Thanks....Jake

 

[hdtran]

Here's a picture of one of my hitchhiking porcelain crabs (Gulf of Mexico aquacultured LR). I've got a zillion (well, not quite a zillion) of these guys. Filter feeders, perfectly harmless, in spite of the scary looking claws. Notice the yellow fans fanning the water (barely visible in the photo).

BTW, if I'm not misreading "Reef Invertebrates" (Fenner/Calfo), an easy way to distinguish the porcelain crabs from others is to count the legs. Porcelain crabs have 4 visible pairs (counting big claws as 1 pair); all other crabs have 5 pairs. In porcelain crabs, the 5th pair is tucked behind the carapace.

John & Matt, I've tried keying out the unknown crab from my previous post here. Not a clue. My best guess is that it's from the Xanthidae family, but that's a WAG.

 

[Eryl Flynn]

If you get a good look it is easy to tell if it is a porcelain crab. You will note the 3 sets of legs pair of claws and in front it will have little legs with hairs that look alot like nets. It will flare them out and back catching particles in the water column. The claws on crabs like this are for defense, they aren't really equipped to eat any thing but small particles.

 

[jhmuse]

Thanks for all the info everybody. I dumped him into my 37 gal. FOWLR. There is plenty of rock in there for him to be happy !!