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View Full Version : ID a strange crustacean?

nsamouroux
08/15/2009, 11:01 AM
This little sucker has apparently been in our 100-gallon reef for at least two years now (the last time we added new rock of any sort). I discovered him this morning when the halides came on, he was feeding on our sea apple, which may have already been dying, but I want a positive ID before this little sucker gets disposed of. It looks somewhat like a strawberry / boxer crab to me, but has no white spots. He looks mostly translucent, and is a very pastel shade of pink. With legs spread out, he's about 1" in diameter, his shell is about 1/2" diameter. I've never seen him before in the two years this tank has been set up, including two seperate moves. It looks like his legs are covered with "hairs" in the pictures, but this appears to be the flesh of the sea apple it was picking apart.

Anyone know for certain what the heck type of crab this is?

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l285/nsamouroux/PICT0510.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l285/nsamouroux/PICT0511.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l285/nsamouroux/PICT0512.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l285/nsamouroux/PICT0513.jpg
Shane Hoffman
08/15/2009, 11:36 AM
I would remove the sea apple asap....my seapple expelled his poison after a fish decided to take a big bite out of him.......lost 13 fish.........
nsamouroux
08/15/2009, 11:53 AM
Aha! I found out what the little bugger is. Wetwebmedia has a posting about it, and a good picture which is an exact match (Link to article, 1/3 down the page) (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/cukedisfaqs.htm). It's a pea crab, and was apparently living INSIDE the sea apple. What I saw wasn't necessarily him feeding upon the sea apple, he was digging his way OUT of it. I've removed the sea apple, as it was badly deflated with it's feeding "branches" hanging out, and I'd rather lose a $30 animal than $1000 worth of other livestock! It's not dead quite yet, but I'm sure it will be after this damned crab dug it's way out of the poor thing. I've had this sea apple for almost 6 months now, and it always looked fairly healthy, but never moved around much (stayed in one corner of the tank and filter-fed). It started moving around the entire tank two days ago and finally stopped under a rock. What a shame....