White hairy crab? - Aquarium Advice

bodie · 03-26-2009, 03:24 PM

I know it's difficult to identify because I couldn't get a pic, but I found what appears to be a crab (it really looked like a tarantula spider, but was underwater) crawling on my live rock. I had never seen it before and was shocked at how big it was. The body was approximately 1 inch wide and it appeared to have 4 legs on each side. I couldn't notice any eyes on it and it was white, but looked hairy. I initially thought it was a piece of leather coral, but it was not yellow like my coral. I tried to catch it with a net, but it crawled under a rock and I never saw it again. Interestingly it was crawling right around my cleaner shrimp and neither seemed to mind each other. It definitely looked more like a large spider than anything else, but considering it was in my reef tank, I'm guessing it's some type of crab. Does anyone have any thoughts? big, white, and hairy looking. Freaky!

**roka64** · 03-26-2009, 04:17 PM

Did it look like this:
Google Image Result for http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/nemo/explorer/bio_gallery/biogallery-ImageF.00060.jpeg

Drewbie · 03-26-2009, 04:37 PM

those are bad right?

bodie · 03-26-2009, 06:23 PM

No, the legs looked somewhat similar, but the body was more round and larger. The body was probably the size of a quarter. I was really shocked that something this big could've been crawling around for years and I had never seen it. It also looked kind of hairy. I almost thought it was some kind of weird white hair algae until I saw it crawling. And like I said, I was also sort of surprised that the cleaner shrimp and this thing were crawling on the same rock and didn't seem to mind each other...

**roka64** · 03-26-2009, 07:10 PM

Drewbie, yes from what I have read, sea spiders can be quite nasty.
Bodie, it's hard to tell without a pic.
Anything on this page:
Xtalreef

bodie · 03-26-2009, 07:44 PM

I agree roka64, I didn't really have high hopes considering I wasn't able to get a picture. Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead when I tried to take a picture of it. I didn't see it on Xtalreef, but it sort of resembled the "hairy crab" only alot hairy and I didn't notice any eyes. Oh well, at a minimum, I'm glad you provided the link to Xtalreef. I had never seen that site and it's been very informational. So thanks for your efforts...

inetmug · 03-27-2009, 02:09 PM

emerald crabs can get white "crusted", looks like a coat of dust

maybe this is it?

SemperSaint · 05-18-2009, 10:55 AM

This is the one I have in my tank.

**roka64** · 05-18-2009, 12:13 PM

Semper, that looks like a gorilla crab, possibly....

pat8you · 05-18-2009, 01:51 PM

Although it may be difficult to identify, my experience with crabs is that many if not most are going to become a problem in your tank. If it were me i would try my very best to get that thing out of there before you start seeing things disappear. Lean towards the side of caution and put it in a sump or just a bowl of tank water so you can get some pictures and figure out what it is.

All crabs go nuts for frozen food. I would try to lure it out from where you last saw it with something tasty. Some people will put some food under a tilted glass and wait.