what am I? (this is not a pop quiz)

[salt creepette]

i have a little gray hitchhiker crab and i happened to be looking through my marine animals file on my computer the other day and I was like, HEY! I HAVE ONE OF THOSE!! I would like to know what he is if anyone knows. he is very hilarious the way he hides in a hole, and at feeding time, holds out his long skinny arms and waves them around trying to catch food.

[ruhspolostar]

no agression problems??? , I want to know what kind to....it looks and sounds neat....


-Adam #8

[salt creepette]

well, every once in a while, one of my fish has some shredded tail fins, but i have no idea who the culprit is. maybe this is it. the crab is very small, body is probably less than 1/2 inch; maybe 1/4 inch. arms are less in diameter than a piece of uncooked spaghetti.

[Spanky]

sc

I can't see him too good, but is he a Portunus ordwaya?

[salt creepette]

i tried doing a search on google but couldnt find any pics of Portunus ordwaya. do you have any? or know a common name? or know where I can find a pic?

thanks

erin

[Jeshua]

i remembered reading about a crab with that feeding behavior you described. so i went and found the page again http://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11...ot_parent_id=4 . what i can make out from your picture it kinda looks like this boxing crab (Lybia tessellata). so check it out maybe its your hitch hiker

[salt creepette]

hey nice name, Jeshua! welcome to TRT!

thanks for the suggestion, but my little freeloader is not a boxing crab. would be cool to have one of those though! I tried an anemone crab once but I guess he didnt acclimate well (how did you like how I shifted the blame onto it instead of me for not doing a good enough job!) and is no longer with us. (my conscience chants at me "murderer! murderer!")