a very bad crab

[LeslieS]

This crab is believed to have eaten:

11 peppermint shrimp
2 cleaner shrimp
1 neon goby

and possible killed:

1 purple firefish
2 chromis

The above three were found severely beaten up.

I finally got him out of the tank - after ripping out rocks that were epoxied together :irked:

He is in the sump for now. Unfortunately, I have no way of know if he is the actual culprit because everything small in size has already been eaten. I will have to add more shrimp before I can see if anything else goes missing!

He looks more purple in person, and his body is about the size of a quarter.

 

[KathyC]

He should be very grateful that you've allowed him to live in your sump instead of what he does deserve after all that killing....

 

[MikeyZO]

what kind of crab is it? Besides a despicable naughty one?

 

[e.muehlbauer]

It looks very similar to our local mud crabs....it is clearly different, as ours have smooth shells, but its probably in the same family....they are very destructive, even in my local tank...I can only keep the very smallest. Anything larger than an inch will kill everything else.

 

[cybermeez]

Take a look at that bad boy's right claw!! WOW!

 

[jhale]

He should be very grateful that you've allowed him to live in your sump instead of what he does deserve after all that killing....

he was not killing, he was eating :eat:

 

[DevIouS]

Stone Crab

 

[Killerdrgn]

Oh if that is actually a stone crab you should raise it until it gets big and then give it a hot water bath. They're really tasty.

 

[Domboski]

Joe's Stone Crabs? :lol2:

 

[LeslieS]

Oh if that is actually a stone crab you should raise it until it gets big and then give it a hot water bath. They're really tasty.

That is what Jer said.

Phil was right. I looked up stone crabs and it looks exactly like a Pacific stone crab. One of the articles said that in Florida claws are harvested by breaking one off and throwing the crab back into the water. The crab can regenerate its claw up to three times in an eight year life cycle. Cruel but semi-renewable resource.

 

[e.muehlbauer]

Actually, not that cruel.....hold on to the claw, and the crab autotomizes it...drops it on its own, after first sealing it off. The crab drops its own claw, rather than getting it pulled off. Stone crabs are in the same family as mud crabs, just much larger.....

 

[LeslieS]

cool!

 

[Killerdrgn]

Yes! Great catch Leslie a nice seafood dinner every 4 months or so. You should go back to where ever you picked up that hitch hiker and buy some more stuff from them to get more free seafood dinners.

 

[Keith P]

Too bad he's not reef-safe. That big claw is awesome (and probably tasty)!