Crab ID

[mollybabes]

I saw this crab in an LFS, and I would like to get it, but I think it would be slightly helpful to know a little about it before I do.

It is kinda like a hermit crab, in that it has a Shell, But the owner of the LFS said that it doesn't ever need a new shell, it just grows with the crab. The shell looks like coral-the bottom part is rount(presumably so the crab can fit in it) but the top has tall spikes of "coral."

Can anyone help identify it, or give me a good link to crabs?

I tried wetwebmedia, but there wasn't anything there on this crab.

Thanks!

 

[OrionGirl]

There is a type of hermit crab that uses a living coral as a sheel. I can't confirm that the coral will grow with the crab, but doubt it, since corals grow slower than crabs. It seems more likely that the crab will either increase the size of the cavity it's in, or abandon the coral cap for a larger piece if available.

Keeping the crab alive is easy--it's a scavenger, just like all hermits. Keeping the coral alive can be trickier, since it will have lighting requirements that must be met. The ones I've seen have usually used staghorn montipori corals.

 

[mogurnda]

I can't remember anything about hermits and corals, but I know a little about hermits that associate with sponges. The sponge starts by growing on the shell of a snail, and eventually the hermit is living in just the sponge. I know there's a good writeup somewhere, but the link below is the best I could find.

http://www.public.coe.edu/departments/Biology/hermit.html