Crab ID

Hi all,

Any crustacean experts out there who can help ID this critter? Roughly 2cm in size, Lembeh Strait, 10-12m depth, sandy/ coral area. Reminds me of Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street.

Cheers,

Tony

Oscar is cute! I can't see enough of him to be sure but the fine "fur coat" suggests that it's Polydectus cupulifer. Was it holding anemones? P. cupulifer is often found holding a pair of anemones like Lybia boxing crabs.

Asian Diver Magazine had one on the cover last year in an story by William Tan:

http://www.asiandiver.com/editorial/editor...grp=Destination

http://www.edge-of-reef.com/brachiuri/BRAP...cupuliferen.htm

Hope that these are useful.

Alex

Ahhhh 'Teddy Bear' crab

He looks great

Dive safe

DeanB

According to that edge-of-reef info this crab can hold onto anemones for defensive purposes. Does this make a "tool" user and maybe even the lost link somewhere in the primate chain...!

:-)

Teddy bear name suggests family Ursidae.

Alex

It wasn't holding any anemones, which made me wonder whether it's a teddy bear or not.

The guides seemed to think it wasn't, though they had no alternative explanation except "It's like a teddy bear, but it's different." I've been using "shaggy crab" and "oscar" as proxy/ working names. Guess I have to go back and look for more.

Cheers,

Tony

Tony, the common name teddy bear is applied to other furry species as well. For example, there are some in the genera Pilumnus, Hirsutodynomene & Heteropilumnus. Your guides might have had one of the other ones in mind.

Looking for more is always a good idea.

Thanks Leslie,

Crabs are so confusing...

I'll be back there later in the year, and will see if I can find more to add to my confusion

Cheers,

Tony

Ok, have another crazy crab for you. Teeny, tiny little crab, pictured here picking through a gastropod shell. In real life, it looks like a broken piece of a flat white shell.

This was shot at 2.5-3x life-size, to give you an idea of how small this is.

Any ideas what this is?

Cheers,

Tony

Oops, sorry to have neglected you. I didn't realize you had something new in this thread.

These little guys are unmistakeable - at least the genus is - once you've seen one. It's an elbow crab called Cryptopodia. Do you have pictures of it from above?

This one was also taken at Lembeh http://www.reefimages.com/Shrimp/Shrimp1.htm and it's been left as Cryptopodia sp as well.

For comparison with another species see http://www.digitaldiver.net/yabbse/index.p...17839#msg117839

Thanks Leslie,

That's definitely it. You're awesome!

Cheers,

Tony