Crab molt?

dzeadow · #1 11/26/2007, 04:18 PM

At least I hope it's a molt, this guy was pretty cool when he was actually out. I think it's a porcelain crab. The first pic is of what I think is the molt, the second is the bottom of it showing his "trap door" open out the back side.. like those old long john underwear that had a trap door for going to the bathroom..

Blown 346 · #2 11/26/2007, 04:56 PM

Yes that looks like a crab molt. That guy is awesome looking.

seapug · #3 11/26/2007, 04:59 PM

could be, but that's an awfully "meaty" looking molt. They are typically a bit thinner and more transparent looking. I guess you'll know for sure when/if you see the critter again.

dzeadow · #4 11/26/2007, 05:06 PM

when I got the guy it was more brownish than it is now.. obviously it looks reddish now, I don't know if that has anything to do with anything.

imyoraven · #5 11/26/2007, 06:41 PM

cool pic!

nrstype · #6 11/26/2007, 06:57 PM

I think it is a molt, usually, when you see the "trap door" like you said, it should be a molt. I've seen crabs without the "escape hatch", just to realize they are deader than a door nail crab. If I see an exit on the underside of the belly, I always assume it is a molt.

So.. hopefully, this is a molt.

Nice looking crab by the way!

dzeadow · #7 11/26/2007, 07:11 PM

The funny thing is, they have these huge claws making them look like horrific monsters, but 1)he's barely bigger than a penny, and 2) they filter feed using their "fans" (for lack of knowing what they're actually called). So I'm guessing they're perfectly reef safe. I hope he's still around, he was a cool lookin dude fanning the water every time I fed the tank.

nrstype · #8 11/26/2007, 07:16 PM

keep us posted. Nice crab.

dzeadow · #9 11/26/2007, 07:36 PM

SWEET! I found him! I looked in his favorite hiding spot. He's tucked in there tight, but you can make out the claw in this photo (circled it). His antenae are flippin about so he's still alive for the time being! Now to find that silly pom pom crab....

nrstype · #10 11/26/2007, 07:41 PM

YIPEE!

ginger7286 · #11 11/26/2007, 08:45 PM

Yep, a molt I find the shells from mine all the time. I have at least six of the purple, they just had babies and I have three blue. They are great additions and I love them they are so cool!

dzeadow · #12 11/26/2007, 08:53 PM

yours had babies? Did they live? Where did you get your blue ones?

Seadoc · #13 11/26/2007, 10:10 PM

That is an awesome crab. If the molt looks that amazing, I can not imagine how the live crab looks.

dzeadow · #14 11/26/2007, 10:11 PM

amazingly I got it for free from saltwaterfish.com when I ordered there last. They said it was a porcelain crab so I'm guessing that's what it is. If I ever catch it out and about (which is very rare) I'll snap another pic of it.

ReefSparky · #15 11/26/2007, 10:26 PM

I used to collect my "molts" With a pin or some small device, I'd carefully spread out the legs making it as natural looking as I could. I'd then let it dry on top of my lighting housing. At one point I had about a dozen of them lined up; each one slightly larger than the one before.

Once I did this and the drying "molt" filled the area with a deathly ammonia like stench that insulted and burned the nostrils. THAT WAS NO MOLT!!

Glad you found the live one, dzeadow!

dzeadow · #16 11/26/2007, 10:43 PM

me too, especially after reading your story because I have the molt hanging out in the front of my tank right now. Funny thing is, I forgot I put it there this morning and when I went to feed the fish tonight, I saw it sitting there staring at me and I was like "woah, what's that?!" for a milisecond I thought somehow a crab got out of the tank.. until I realized my mistake!

NanoReefWanabe · #17 11/28/2007, 09:23 AM

i was just going to say it looks like a porcelin crab but you already know that...

they are very cool loooking crabs...get to about the size of a toonie up here in Canada..

nrstype · #18 11/28/2007, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NanoReefWanabe

they are very cool loooking crabs...get to about the size of a toonie up here in Canada..

OK.. I'll bite.. what the heck is a "TOONIE"????

ReefSparky · #19 11/30/2007, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by nrstype
OK.. I'll bite.. what the heck is a "TOONIE"????

A single dollar piece (like our silver dollar in the states) in Canada has a loon on it, and hence is called a "Loonie."

When Canada minted their 2 dollar coin, it made sense, and it was a funny pun, to call it a, you guessed it, the Toonie. They don't spell it "Two-nie" though.

mpty · #20 11/30/2007, 01:29 AM

hahahahahaha omg that's so hilarious. i was like totally tryin to explain the toonie to this american dude and he like totally didn't get it! i was like seriously, it's because there was a loon on the loonie and like i just figured out, like JUST NOW, why he didn't get it. he didn't know what a LOON was. so it didn't matter about the toonie explanation becuz he didn't get the loon part of it either way in the first place!!!!!!!!

xoxompty

uscharalph · #21 11/30/2007, 02:03 AM

Very cool!

ReefSparky · #22 11/30/2007, 04:14 AM

That'll be two dollars.

nrstype · #23 11/30/2007, 07:52 AM

OH... well.. I at least I can say I knew what the loon was. So now.. I am in the Canadian "know"...

THANKS!

amazd · #24 11/30/2007, 09:17 AM

Gotta love it. My family literally watched a hitchhiker crab molt in our tank. It was awesome. He came out the back just like your picture depicts.

Next morning the then softshell crab was invited to breakfast by a hitchhiking mantis shrimp. Poor mr. crab.

hugodboss · #25 12/01/2007, 01:35 AM

that is cool. I just recently went thru the same thing with my emerald crab I thought it died but i was wrong check it out..it got huge.

this is the molt