An interesting crab. ID please?

[lgerold]

Hi!

I've been watching this guy for a week or so now. I didn't even realize it was a crab living in this hole! I've had this coral for about 6 weeks.

I'll bet I took 30 pictures of this guy trying to get a clear shot!:smirk:

First, his house. Pretty nice digs! Green grass, mountains, a few "trees." Perfect view!

Below are two pictures. He's some kind of a filter feeder. Look close and you can see his sifting legs.

Got an ID?

 

[Witfull]

jeezus,,,how do i say this,,,,

a harmless filterfeeding crablike creature...its not a crab!

 

[lgerold]

Really? I've even seen him wave his claw. One claw, on the left, is much larger than the one on the right. It even has pinschers.

 

[Raf]

can't really tell from that pic....maybe its like a barnacle, that has one sweeper that ressembles a claw??

 

[reefjitsu]

I believe it is a filter feeding type of hermit crab. The genus name eludes me right now, I'll post again when it comes to me.

 

[lgerold]

Does this kind of hermit live in a shell, or does it use the hold in the coral as the shell?

Thanks!

 

[reefjitsu]

They live in the hole. It is a Paguritta sp. BTW.

 

[Dentoid]

Cool!

 

[lgerold]

That IS cool. Check out the photo on this site - It's copyrighted so I could not put it here.

http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/P/Paguritta_gracilipes.asp

Karma to Reefjitsu! Thanks!