Calico Crabs?

[Ducksmasher]

Picked a couple of these up last trip shrimping.. threw them in the q tank, they like to borrow and hide. How safe are they? If not im gunna hang on to them and they can live in the sump.

[omard]

Sump or soup.

[Ducksmasher]

how about a mottled purse crab? Persephona mediterranea.. got one last time too.

[Swede]

That is one very cool looking crab.

[Tangster]

Well if its a true Caribbean or Gulf Calico Box Crab aka Hepatus epheliticus and it looks like on to me then you best just flush it (: and hope it was not gravid. Their Larva is microscopic and you never want one in your main system.. It kind of looks like one to me but the angel is wrong to really see what you have there . But again its looks like one to me .. Use that Latin Name and look for some pictures I already saw where someone else had a killer in his system today . Live rock probably came in from the Gulf near to the Flordia coast ..

[Ducksmasher]

yeah it is.. i see them quite often, its my job to sex em, measure em, write em up. Both the calico's are virgin females though. Im thinking them girls could live down in the sump next to the skimmer!

[matt s]

Alright I have to ask, and I"m not trying to be demented here - my degree is in forestry, fisheries, and wildlife but being far from the coast I'm not familiar with marine species but I am interested in the answer here.

So the obvious question is how do you tell if a little crab like that is virgin?

[Ducksmasher]

Virgin female - apron is sealed to her body and cannot be opened. Impossible to carry eggs or mate.



Work for a states coastal fisheries division.