box crab - orange marking on shell

[djordje]

To all,

I've been pulling hitchhiker crabs out of my tank ever since start-up, July 06'. I thought I had them all removed, but I found one the other night and was able to trap it with some patience. It is now temporarily in my refugium. My other crabs were red mithrax clinging crabs and I pulled out (2) xanthid "gorilla" crabs. This one is different from all. It is like dull brownish olive color with a distinct orange stripe on top of its body. It also tucks it's claws in neatly like the box crabs. Does anyone have any ideas what this could be. The live rock is from gulf of mexico, "gulf view.com" , and probably many know him....Dale. I need to pinpoint this species for my own knowledge. No pictures yet.

Thanks,
Alex

[tims]

Alex,
here is a thread on crabs. we did this a while ago. it does have many ID pics and link to ID pics of various crabs and body types.