Crab ID required
Submitted by grantarctic1 on Sun, 2012-03-25 22:02
Any one know what type of crab this is ?
Was caught at Hill river on a bait from the beach
It had sea grass actually growing out of its nose (mouth)
Never seen one before ( it was released unharmed )
Cheers Grant .
Image Upload:
Yewiefish85
Posts: 792
Date Joined: 02/01/11
spider crab
spider crab
1268-EX
Posts: 118
Date Joined: 18/01/12
yep spider crab
yep spider crab
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18033
Date Joined: 11/03/08
one ugly mother. i thought
one ugly mother. i thought the spider crabs had longer legs , could be wrong.
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
jayce
Posts: 564
Date Joined: 10/12/11
i caught one of them in the
i caught one of them in the same spot. Only place i have ever seen one and they are even uglier up close haha the photo doesnt do it justice
bitten
Posts: 803
Date Joined: 07/04/10
deffintly a spider crabgood
deffintly a spider crab
good eating but you wont get much out of them its not really worth it they are a delicasy in some coutries but they get much bigger in other waters thats about the size of them here maybe a bit bigger but not much
when you get one with eggs lift the tail and have a look a them it looks like a stary night sky prety awesome
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
Looks like a weevil!
Looks like a weevil!
grantarctic1
Posts: 2546
Date Joined: 03/03/11
Thanks
Thanks for the input guy's, We all called it a spider crab just because the way it looks , but i thought that name might cover a few species .
Glenn Moore
Posts: 228
Date Joined: 13/02/12
'Brooding' Spider Crab
I'm no crab expert, but I asked our Crustacea Curator Andrew Hosie. It is Paranaxia serpulifera. It does not have a common name, but he suggested you could use 'Brooding' Spider Crab because the species is unusual in that it has direct development, brooding its young under the abdomen until they walk out as juveniles. So, there is no planktonic stage, which most crabs have. It was thought to be restricted to Australia, but was recently found in West Papua. They are also called Decorator Crabs because they glue bits of weed, sponge, worm casings etc on their back for camouflage.
Glenn Moore
Curator of Fishes
Western Australian Museum
twitter @WestOzFish
grantarctic1
Posts: 2546
Date Joined: 03/03/11
Great reply
Thanks Glenn , i sugested to the guy's it was simular to a Decorator crab . The sea grass was imbedded deep into the snout and appeared to be growing there .
Cheers Grant .
Doooma
Posts: 791
Date Joined: 05/12/09
Ugly
Looks like a facehugger of the Aliens movie.......... almost!! ;-)