Another crab from Indonesia

I need some help identifying this cute little fella...

Taken at a site called "Torpedo Alley" off Rinca Island, Indoensia at night at a depth of around 13 metres on sand. It appears to have a polychaete living on its carapace.

How about the "Make my Day" crab? No clue, sorry.

Hi Andrew -- It's something in the family Xanthidae or one of the families split off from it. There are hundreds of these little crabs & hard to id even with full body photos, sorry. But that polychaete hat is fabulous! I wish I had one so fetching.

Love the worm on his head!

Ugh... I sold my u/w gear and just looking at this little crab makes me miss diving and U/W photography so much!!!

Of course along with that I thank my lucky stars I was privileged enough to take some shots underwater... but the act of it is so much more than looking at photos... I just miss being underwater will little guys like this...

You can have your fancy parties with interesting people spouting shit out of their mouths... I would take a night underwater with this guy any day.

Sorry for the rant... I just miss the water...

Sorry to hear that!

Jeremy, I really feel for you. I love diving and taking photos so much I hate it if I can't go for at least one dive on a weekend.

Thanks, Leslie. I didn't notice the polychaete until looking at the photos. I have poor close vision (I'm an old fart) and frequently find gems like this after the dive. This particular dive I had a number of such suprises.

There was this crab holding a sand dollar on its back. I had just assumed it was a flat-top crab until looking at the photo:

A spider crab with hydroids (I saw the crab but not the hydroids):

A dwarf lionfish with a copepod parasite on its eye:

And then there were the crabs carrying upside-down jellyfish on their backs:

(Sorry, Jeremy if make you miss UW photography more.)

I have poor close vision (I'm an old fart)...

Andrew, why not get yourself prescription lenses for your mask? Subject discussed in depth here. I have a Technisub Look 2 with small bifocal lenses, but I'm going to try the company Peter mentioned in the last post of the thread.

Andrew, why not get yourself prescription lenses for your mask? Subject discussed in depth here. I have a Technisub Look 2 with small bifocal lenses, but I'm going to try the company Peter mentioned in the last post of the thread.

Thanks, Nick. I do - well sort of. I have a Tusa Geminus mask with bifocal +2.5 diopters. Makes a huge difference, especially when shooting video with my D7000, however, I still miss a lot of the detail on small critters. Although I did "see" some pygmy seahorses in Komodo in August for the first time (other than seeing them through the viewfinder).

Note that I am still able to find lots of cool stuff, I just don't get the full enjoyment until reviewing the photos later.