I've got crabs...

[Tassie_Rohan]

Found this little sea monster in northern bali down at 30 metres. About 2 cm long - approximately 0.00001242742384 miles for the metric-challanged out there.

What is he, whats his normal habitat and food, and is he common in SE Asia?

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[fishb0y]

Yikes... it'll take a lotta shampoo for that critter...

 

[LeslieH]

that's Xenocarcinus tuberculatus. Very common, found mainly on sea whips. Sorry, I don't know anything about its food.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Thanks for the ID Leslie - a wire coral crab or whip coral spider crab. Cute little beastie.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[sasscuba]

Cool pic.

 

[_Bella_]

That one looks like she might have eggs in her abdomen.

What I know from my own observations is they usually live in deeper waters starting as shallow as 20m.

Nice pic!

 

[Jason Ooi]

nice pic

 

[Haiko]

Does it bite?

 

[LeslieH]

Bella's right - that abdomen is really enlarged! No, they don't bite - crabs are pinchers, not biters. Besides, look at the size of the crab compared to the whip coral. Even if it did pinch those claws aren't big enough to hurt.