ID please?

[mrn10]

Can someone ID this crab for me? Found him hiding in our live rock. Thanks!

[flooddc]

Xanthid crab!

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchcrabs.html

[smallreef]

Oh oh that thing is scary! Give it to Robb!

[Coral Hind]

Bad crab!

[mrn10]

Thank you flooddc and everyone! Just looked at you link and that is def the crab! Now to figure out what to do with him.

[Coral Hind]

If a fellow reefer lives close to you and has a mantis shrimp or a large trigger they may want it for food.

[mrn10]

Free to anyone that may need this guy

[mrn10]

WOW...Just found another one

[Origami]

Where did you get your rock?

[mrn10]

Got the tank/rock from a sale on craigslist prior to joining WAMAS, so not sure where exactly it came from. But have 2 of them now and not sure what to do with them. They are in the refugium for now.

[Origami]

They may have hitchhiked in on the rock when the last person got it. Xanthid crabs are  not at all uncommon on live rock coming from the Gulf of Mexico (along with small mantis shrimp - Wennerae sp.). The former owner probably just never took them out. Early on, I caught several in my tank after buying some rock from a Florida source. Since I also caught a mantis shrimp hitchhiker, I had a "natural" solution at hand. You can either leave them in the sump, isolate them in some other place where you they are harmless (but accessible), give them to somebody who can use them as food for something like a mantis shrimp, or dispose of in any other way that your conscience will allow. I would not put them back into the display, personally.