Photo Gallery Spotlight: Sessile Paguritta sp. Crab In Porites sp.

by James Wiseman | Jul 15, 2002 | 0 comments

Welcome to the Photo Gallery Spotlight. Each month we’ll showcase a particularly nice aquarium photograph, taking the time to discuss the identification and husbandry of the animal pictured as well as information relating to the technical details of how the photo was taken. Readers are encouraged to send images (and details on the organisms pictured, as well as the details of how they captured the shot) they would like to submit for possible inclusion in this feature to [email protected] . For submissions that are published in Advanced Aquarist, the author will receive a $25.00 gift certificate from one of our participating advertisers.

Sessile Paguritta sp. crab in Porites sp.

This photograph was taken of a sessile animal living in my 115-gallon aquarium. The subject is a sessile hermit crab (genus _ Paguritta_ ) which lives commensally with Porites and other massive corals such as _ Hydnophora_. I have observed these “critters” in the wild in Fiji at thirty foot water depths living in large heads of Porites at about one crab per square foot. The hermit crab feeds on plankton and particulate matter that it filters from the water using its modified antennae which is long and feathered, and can be seen in the photo.