hitchhiking crab id

[lavenderfish]

Look what was attached to my pipe organ coral. Should I keep it or will it reek havoc?

 

[aquarookie]

Is that a decorator crab?

 

[lavenderfish]

No I've seen decorator crabs and the have much longer legs. This little guy is only about 1/2 across and looks very much like a miniature dungeness crab.

 

[aquarookie]

Well then, give him to me and I'll cook him and eat him! :lol:

I would say, look at its claws. If they are nice and sharp, he's a meat eater and you should not place him in the tank. If they have flat little pads at the tips (like emerald crabs), it is probably an algae eater...

 

[lavenderfish]

Well then, give him to me and I'll cook him and eat him! :lol:

Too small or he would already be my dinner.
Imagine tring to pick the meat out of those 1/4" legs.

 

[aquarookie]

Then eat it like sardines, with the legs (or bones, or what-have-you). Seriously though, were you able to take a look at the claws? I know if I scare a crab, they shake their claws at me...