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Is this crab harmful to sps?


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  • SRC Member
Hi, found this crab hiding in my digitata. Anyone can ID it? Is this a sps crab or a nuisance crab feeding on the sps?

Advice much appreciated. Thanks!

not in my opinion. I hv quite a few. none of them on corals but hiding in rocks. I've seen them eat algae, and found that most hv the tips of their claws bent. Is your digitata damage? If it is, then it is better to remove it.

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not in my opinion. I hv quite a few. none of them on corals but hiding in rocks. I've seen them eat algae, and found that most hv the tips of their claws bent. Is your digitata damage? If it is, then it is better to remove it.

Hi Ivan, my digitata seems fine. I just happen to saw this tiny crab at the base of the digitata, it seems it's hiding there happily.

Not knowing if this is harmful, i chose the option of removing it just in case.

Any benefits of having "SPS crabs"? I heard about some crabs living in SPS, and protecting the colony, but can't seem to find any reading materials online.

Thanks again for ur advice.

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Hi,

Yes, I think they are. Commensal crabs are those that live in the colony. You will commonly find them on wild imported SPS corals. I've read that they help by keeping the colonies clean of detritus or dirt. Between two colonies, I usually pick one which has the crab vs. one that don't. These crabs are mostly the smooth shelled crabs.

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