A Crab I Need Identified (If Possible..lol)

[halostar9]

Hey, all!

My fiance just noticed something in some new live rock we recent acquired... a crab hiding inside! He is dark purple and white color and I notice he tends to be nocturnal and hides in the dark. I have noticed when the light goes on he scurries to hide. I have looked over so many sites that sell inverts and have not seen one that looks exactly like him but the closest I could see was maybe a porcelain crab. Not quite sure though. I am thinking that maybe because he hides a great deal in the dark that he is a type of hermit? I dunno. I am attaching a picture of what I could actually get on him because of the weird angle he was at and trying to hide.

Please let me know if you have any idea what type of crab this could be. I am very interested!

Thanks!

 

[yote]

Its not a hermit for sure.
Look at its pinchers.Are the tips kind of spoon shaped or do they have sharp points.
90% of the nocternal crabs are going to be predators which will readly catch and eat fish,or eat corals.

 

[hibye]

It looks like a sally light foot to me.
Nice stuart avartar by the way :lol:

 

[halostar9]

I have some better pics of it if you can tell me what it is... Anyone?

 

[dustin_P74]

i say a sally lightfoot crab, http://www.petsolutions.com/default.aspx?ItemId=161900L&EID=161900L&SID=FROOGLE

 

[hibye]

Nevermind. It looks dangerous becuase it has pointy claws. I would take it out asap imo

 

[dustin_P74]

actually hibye, look at the last pic, they look dulled out just like an emerald crab's claws

 

[hibye]

Welli had a emerald that ate my firefish,and i forgot what else it ate

 

[ZOOT098]

i have a pretty big sally lightfoot
i dont think thats a sally
front claws are too fat and legs are too short

almost looks like a spotted porcelin crab

 

[Bifferwine]

That looks too squat and stocky to be a sally lightfoot. Sally lightfoots look skinny, flat and spindly, their body looks like a daddy longlegs.

 

[joeman]

Here is a good link for ID'ing things - link is direct to shrimps & crabs, keep flicking through the pages: http://www.reefimages.com/Shrimp/Shrimp.htm
You can go through lobsters to get to more crabs.... I didn't really see an exact match - maybe you have discovered a new species :-)