white acro crab

[benthos]

I found a tiny little white crab with a black band across its face. the whole body is white including the pinchers with only the black on its face. Found it nestled in the base of some branches of a new acro colony. Sorry no pic as this thing is small and hard to catch. Could someone id this please?
Or direct me to a crab id bible on the internets...

 

[wade1]

Its one of thousands of varieties of commensal crabs that live in corals. A very good thing to have in my opinion... they help protect the corals from predators and pests.

Good luck on the ID, I can't help you there!

 

[benthos]

So if thier not interdependant whats the crab living off of? As long as its not eating polyps he can stay.

thankyou.

 

[wade1]

They eat detritous and coral waste (released from the polyps) as far as I know. I do everything I can to pick up more acro crabs as they are rarely on anything but wild or ocean farmed corals.

 

[John_Brandt]

'Acro crabs' are generally Trapezia spp. This sounds like one.