Hitchhiker ID — Crabs and Snails

AlaskaMatt · Jan 17, 2023

Hello all, just got a batch of “base” rock from TBS and wow! Incredible amount of life already. I have a batch of hitchhikers that I couldn’t readily ID that it’d love some help with:

I assume this is a whelk and not reef safe

Not sure what this little guy is. I’d love to keep him if he’s safe.

that’s about it for now. I’ll have more probably in a couple of hours haha the amount of life on these rocks is honestly pretty spectacular.

ISpeakForTheSeas · Jan 18, 2023

Yeah, the pics aren't great, but the snail looks like a Muricid (Murex) of some kind to me - so it's most likely predatory toward other snails (could be cool in a sump or something though). I don't know on the crab though.

ISpeakForTheSeas · Jan 18, 2023

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Yeah, the pics aren't great, but the snail looks like a Muricid (Murex) of some kind to me - so it's most likely predatory toward other snails (could be cool in a sump or something though). I don't know on the crab though.

Got reminded by another thread - some crab ID tips:

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Some crab ID advice: take a pic of the front like you did (mainly to show the claws - good job there - but also a little to show the face), and also take a pic of the back of the crab (take the pic from above the crab looking straight down at it - this shows the shell and back of the crab, which can both be important for ID too).

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
some top-down photos of the crab's back (including some that show the portion of the shell by the crab's back legs) may be helpful with ID

Tired · Jan 18, 2023

The crab is likely to make a better breeder box/sump monster than reef inhabitant, but I would be curious to find out what he is, as he doesn't look like the typical stone/gorilla/etc "will eat everything" crabs.

KING KONG · Jan 18, 2023

If he has black or pointed claws take it out if not let it be and keep an eye on what it is feeding on. That what I do.

AlaskaMatt · Jan 19, 2023

Thanks for the replies everyone, especially for the tips on getting proper pictures of the crab. I’ll make sure to get a few different angels on the next ID I need.

In my journey to find an answer, my girlfriend actually came to the rescue with Google image search.

From which I found this:

Which is exactly what it looks like! I ended up removing it from my sump and putting him back in the display where he has been munching on algae and other scraps when I can find him.

I also found some other cool stuff — coral, an anemone (maybe 2?), a baby urchin, various snails, and a little porcelain crab that I haven’t seen since the rock went in. I’ll be posting to TBS’s page once I can collect some good pictures of all this awesome stuff.