elegance coral pests

[naperenterprise]

COMMON NAMES: Coral-gall Crab

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - Japan - Cooks, Hawai‘i

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Marine, near-shore

KEY FEATURES: Occupy pits in the massive corals of the family Faviidae. [Common in the Cook Islands forming circular-mouthed pits on faviid corals.

 

[BigJay]

If you've ever seen the pits they are absolutely tiny. Usually leaves a small ringed area on the outside of the pit but it rarely damages the coral beyond that.

more aptly put a small hole in the coral.

 

[Dentoid]

COMMON NAMES: Coral-gall Crab

That thing looks like a deer tick! Looking at it makes me want to it with a stick and scratch my (bleep)! LOL!

 

[BigAl07]

LOL! It does look like a tick.! That was my first thoughts too!! Ewwwww

 

[wayneg]

thanks for all of your help

 

[BigJay]

lol stuff like this is fun. More so for us then you obviously. But its always neat when something new is happening and you actually have to strive to figure it out. I enjoy it anyway.

 

[Reefmack]

They sure look similar to the gall crabs. We still know very little about marine life, and they may just be a larger species of gall crab. I've often wondered how many of us have things in our tanks, or have seen coral, fish or invert behavior, that no marine biologist has ever identified or seen yet. Food for thought, and IMO a very distinct possibility.

 

[cbrownfish]

Size reference..........

 

[BigJay]

sweet CB where'd you dig that up?

 

[Reefmack]

I'll still go with a larger, unidentified species of gall crab.

 

[cbrownfish]

BigJay -- Cook Islands Biodiversity : Hapalocarcinus marsupialis - Coral-gall Crab

I have seen other references to gall crabs in the 1/8 inch or "less a quarter of an inch" range. Very cool. I was unaware of these critters and spent some time researching them today. Good stuff.

 

[BigJay]

awesome. Good find!

 

[Reefmack]

Great article CB! I was doing some searching and found a few mentions of the galls in/on brain & other corals too. Now you'll have me staring at my P. damacornis for hours to see if I have a Pocillopora type gall crab!