New hitchhiker crab - Page 2 - Aquarium Advice

Jarred Darque · 03-02-2007, 01:04 AM

Taht is a Mithrix crab, but a mithrix is a family, not a specific species (emerald crabs are mithrix crabs as well, along with species known as anenome crabs or banded clinging crab) There are around 100 species in the mithrix family that I have seen named, I had to do a ton of research to find the type of mithrix hitchiker I have in my tank.

Not all are good, they for the most part stay small, most will simply eat algae or scavenge, but some are predatory, and some will out-host a clown fish on anenomes, and will kill any clown that tries to host that anenome if it can, or at least chase it away, and the anenome seems to prefer the crabs

BTW, almost all mithrix crabs have hair on their legs and/or back, tehy are chracterized by the shorter but muscular looking legs and claws, the very wide and thick, slightly bulbous body

**roka64** · 03-02-2007, 09:20 AM

Cool, thanks for the new info, Jarred.

**Ziggy953** · 03-02-2007, 10:11 AM

Wow...good information Jarred!!! Thanks

DurTBear · 03-02-2007, 04:26 PM

Yeah, that's great info. I'll try to do some more research and correctly ID him. In the meantime I've kept the glass in there to try and trap him to no avail. He's pretty shy still so I don't know how much he ventures around his rock but I'll keep trying.

**Fluff** · 03-02-2007, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jarred Darque

Taht is a Mithrix crab, but a mithrix is a family, not a specific species (emerald crabs are mithrix crabs as well, along with species known as anenome crabs or banded clinging crab) There are around 100 species in the mithrix family that I have seen named, I had to do a ton of research to find the type of mithrix hitchiker I have in my tank.

Not all are good, they for the most part stay small, most will simply eat algae or scavenge, but some are predatory, and some will out-host a clown fish on anenomes, and will kill any clown that tries to host that anenome if it can, or at least chase it away, and the anenome seems to prefer the crabs

BTW, almost all mithrix crabs have hair on their legs and/or back, tehy are chracterized by the shorter but muscular looking legs and claws, the very wide and thick, slightly bulbous body

Nice info Jarred, kudos to you. Could you please post your research/references? I'd be very interested in reading more of it. Thanks.

**roka64** · 03-02-2007, 10:21 PM

I would too!

Jarred Darque · 03-03-2007, 02:42 PM

Sure, I will try to find it all again, I didnt bookmark it or anything, I will start looking once I get to school, maybe I can try and find some actualy published info on the college library network.

Here is the first bit though to help out some.

Green Emerald Crap --Mithrax sculptus is the scientific name, Mithrax is the genus, or whatever, sculptus is the specific species, as we all know with all of the variations of fish that we keep. OH, and I was wrong on the family, t he family is Majidae, which includes even more crabs (teh family in english means Spider Crabs, which includes some 30+ genuses, mithrax being one, which on the list posted below has at least 16 variations on it)

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.ed...=21&Search.y=6

and here is a link of 16 differant mithrax crabs, including the green emerald, BTW Mithrax seems to translate basically to clinging crab, I guess related to their stocky build and muscular claws

Rambo64 · 03-05-2007, 03:10 PM

If it is an emerald mithrax crab its good because it will eat bubble algae if you get

DurTBear · 03-05-2007, 04:16 PM

So I'm pretty sure he's not an emerald mithrax crab since I have one in there and they don't look similar unless emerald crabs start out as black/grey when they're young. But there's a possibility he could a part of the mithrax family (I hope). He hasn't ventured into the glass yet so I think he's still pretty shy. I may just let him hang out in there unless I notice some damage being done to my coral.

03-02-2007, 09:20 AM	#12
roka64 Aquarium Advice Addict Community Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 10,324 Images: 12	Cool, thanks for the new info, Jarred. __________________ Uh-oh, I just overloaded my Bioload! Questions loved, heeded advice greatly appreciated! Vote for AA Good reading about: Nitrogen Cycle Fishless Cycling Need more help? Articles Acronym List --Scott

03-02-2007, 10:21 PM	#16
roka64 Aquarium Advice Addict Community Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 10,324 Images: 12	I would too! __________________ Uh-oh, I just overloaded my Bioload! Questions loved, heeded advice greatly appreciated! Vote for AA Good reading about: Nitrogen Cycle Fishless Cycling Need more help? Articles Acronym List --Scott

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03-02-2007, 01:04 AM	#11
Jarred Darque Aquarium Advice FINatic Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 664	Taht is a Mithrix crab, but a mithrix is a family, not a specific species (emerald crabs are mithrix crabs as well, along with species known as anenome crabs or banded clinging crab) There are around 100 species in the mithrix family that I have seen named, I had to do a ton of research to find the type of mithrix hitchiker I have in my tank. Not all are good, they for the most part stay small, most will simply eat algae or scavenge, but some are predatory, and some will out-host a clown fish on anenomes, and will kill any clown that tries to host that anenome if it can, or at least chase it away, and the anenome seems to prefer the crabs BTW, almost all mithrix crabs have hair on their legs and/or back, tehy are chracterized by the shorter but muscular looking legs and claws, the very wide and thick, slightly bulbous body

03-02-2007, 10:11 AM	#13
Ziggy953 Aquarium Advice Addict Community Moderator Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Sumerduck, Virginia Posts: 3,386 Images: 5	Wow...good information Jarred!!! Thanks

03-02-2007, 04:26 PM	#14
DurTBear Aquarium Advice Activist Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 102 Images: 14	Yeah, that's great info. I'll try to do some more research and correctly ID him. In the meantime I've kept the glass in there to try and trap him to no avail. He's pretty shy still so I don't know how much he ventures around his rock but I'll keep trying.

03-03-2007, 02:42 PM	#17
Jarred Darque Aquarium Advice FINatic Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 664	Sure, I will try to find it all again, I didnt bookmark it or anything, I will start looking once I get to school, maybe I can try and find some actualy published info on the college library network. Here is the first bit though to help out some. Green Emerald Crap --Mithrax sculptus is the scientific name, Mithrax is the genus, or whatever, sculptus is the specific species, as we all know with all of the variations of fish that we keep. OH, and I was wrong on the family, t he family is Majidae, which includes even more crabs (teh family in english means Spider Crabs, which includes some 30+ genuses, mithrax being one, which on the list posted below has at least 16 variations on it) http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.ed...=21&Search.y=6 and here is a link of 16 differant mithrax crabs, including the green emerald, BTW Mithrax seems to translate basically to clinging crab, I guess related to their stocky build and muscular claws

03-05-2007, 03:10 PM	#18
Rambo64 Aquarium Advice Regular Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 84	If it is an emerald mithrax crab its good because it will eat bubble algae if you get

03-05-2007, 04:16 PM	#19
DurTBear Aquarium Advice Activist Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 102 Images: 14	So I'm pretty sure he's not an emerald mithrax crab since I have one in there and they don't look similar unless emerald crabs start out as black/grey when they're young. But there's a possibility he could a part of the mithrax family (I hope). He hasn't ventured into the glass yet so I think he's still pretty shy. I may just let him hang out in there unless I notice some damage being done to my coral.