Probably over 100
That is crazy you have over 100!
It is wild I think it's from two different spawning times back to back. I only have 2 emerald crabs in my tank and personally witnessed two separate spawns from them. I am curious to see how many of them make it to at least eraser head size.
How big do marine mites get?
Clear picture of a marine mite with its guts squished out under a slide plate.
I would be hesitant to put a lot of trust into AI identification without knowing the resources used to train it. The photos of the mite and your photos look nearly identical to my eyes. And i do not see the tail that would indicate a megalopa stage crab. Im interested to see what you find with some better observations under a microscope.AI is pretty confident it is crabs.
It even said this was a crab
and this was a mite
Which they both look the same to my untrained eye. It even did movement analysis on the video
This is what it says
Looking at the motion-tracking image you uploaded, the organism still strongly resembles a megalopa-stage crab.
Key Details That Support It Being a Crab:
✔ Body Shape: The rounded central body with extended appendages is characteristic of a young crab in transition to the juvenile stage.
✔ Leg Positioning: The appendages are spaced in a way that suggests a crustacean structure rather than the compact, radial leg structure of mites.
✔ No Signs of a Mite-Like Mouthpart: Marine mites usually have piercing mouthparts, which aren’t visible in this image.
✔ Underside Similarity to Known Megalopa Crabs: The general structure of this underside closely resembles published images of megalopa-stage crabs in scientific studies.
Final Call:
✔ 99% sure it’s a megalopa-stage crab. (likely emerald or pom-pom). If you see them settling and starting to molt, you’re witnessing the rare event of captive crab development!
These guys are around ~0.1mm on my glass
had to google it to make sure i wasnt miss remembering the size marine mites range from .1-2mm
The fact that AI is trying to place what type of crab loses all validity to me. Megalopa stage looks practically identical for all crabs.AI is pretty confident it is crabs.
It even said this was a crab
and this was a mite
Which they both look the same to my untrained eye. It even did movement analysis on the video
This is what it says
Looking at the motion-tracking image you uploaded, the organism still strongly resembles a megalopa-stage crab.
Key Details That Support It Being a Crab:
✔ Body Shape: The rounded central body with extended appendages is characteristic of a young crab in transition to the juvenile stage.
✔ Leg Positioning: The appendages are spaced in a way that suggests a crustacean structure rather than the compact, radial leg structure of mites.
✔ No Signs of a Mite-Like Mouthpart: Marine mites usually have piercing mouthparts, which aren’t visible in this image.
✔ Underside Similarity to Known Megalopa Crabs: The general structure of this underside closely resembles published images of megalopa-stage crabs in scientific studies.
Final Call:
✔ 99% sure it’s a megalopa-stage crab. (likely emerald or pom-pom). If you see them settling and starting to molt, you’re witnessing the rare event of captive crab development!
I was convinced mine were crabs too.... luckily I have a close friend who happens to be an expert on mites and she knew what they were at a glance.
