IDs these crabs, please.

[wahlaoeh]

Took these crabby at Anilao's nite dive...dive sites are basura & twin rocks...pls help to ids them pls, species name & scientic name would be appreciated...thanks in advance..

 

[scubajoe]

Pictures are too small to see. May not be able to help but I'd try.

Joe

 

[alcina]

Yeah, too small.

A good size for a lot of monitors is 640 on the longest side. I save as jpeg using Save for Web so I can control the image size (I set 640 for the side I want longest and it automatically adjusts the other side) and the file size. 100 kb or less is most user friendly.

 

[wahlaoeh]

Took these crabby at Anilao's nite dive...dive sites are basura & twin rocks...pls help to ids them pls, species name & scientic name would be appreciated...thanks in advance..

here are the bigger images...but if still can't see properly, pls go to my gallery...thanks.

http://sg.homeunix.com/jovin/Apo-Reef-San-Agapito-Anilao-Oct-05/crab_2
http://sg.homeunix.com/jovin/Apo-Reef-San-Agapito-Anilao-Oct-05/crab_3
http://sg.homeunix.com/jovin/Apo-Reef-San-Agapito-Anilao-Oct-05/crab_4

 

[maractwin]

I can't provide any exact species, just vagues families.

The first picture is a hermit crab.

The second is a decorator crab. It's got a couple of ricordia disc anemones on its back, and a bunch of xenia soft coral on its limbs.

The third is a spider crab.

-Mark

 

[LeslieH]

The 2nd one is Cyclocoeloma tuberculata. It's normally covered with riccordias. At the moment I'm a couple thousand miles away from my references so I can't help with the other two, sorry.

 

[wahlaoeh]

The 2nd one is Cyclocoeloma tuberculata. It's normally covered with riccordias. At the moment I'm a couple thousand miles away from my references so I can't help with the other two, sorry.

Thanks Leslie. Just labelled my pix.
Just some questions... did a yahoo search & most suggested that there should be black & white bands on the legs but didn't noticed that on mine. Are they still the same species & how big does this crab grows up to? This one is about 8-10cm.

http://www.edge-of-reef.com/brachiuri/BRACyclocoelomatuberculataen.htm
http://www.divegallery.com/decorator.htm

 

[archman]

did a yahoo search & most suggested that there should be black & white bands on the legs but didn't noticed that on mine.

Uh oh, now we're getting technical. Yeah, bring it!

 

[LeslieH]

Most of the pictures I've seen labelled as C. tuberculata do have the obvious leg bands but some don't. Your animal does have leg bands but they're very light in color & partiall obscured by the attached growth. I don't know if this is natural variation or if several species are involved & mis-identified.
Technical enough for you, Arch? :05: