Originally Posted by
Sir Patrick
I finally found the little guy ripping up any fresh fragged coral/polyp I put in my tank. I was almost suspect of my scarlet emerald crab, but for some reason just couldnt place the blame there. I caught site of something small and black, a couple months ago, but it disapeared very very fast, and havnt seen it again, till tonight!
After the initial sighting, I figured it could be anything, till I noticed corals getting ripped up, or sometimes just moved. One colony of zoas in particular were always getting completely flipped over. It is a good sized rock too! I also noticed, under the rock work, at the bottom of the tank, that some frags had been "stolen", and stuck into rock crevices, very unaturaly. I thought this very very strange......kinda like something was using these frags as a door, or wall, for hiding out. Had to be the little black thing I spotted months ago, I figured.
It had been so long since the last brief sighting, I decided- I will never find this crab, or at least what I figured was a crab. I was stuck with it- forever. I was WRONG!!!
Came home tonight, light fully ablaze, and saw a much bigger black blur, duck behind a rock. Again, very fast, but it was so easy to see, from feet away, because of the unusual blackness of its shell. I hurried towords the tank, and there it was! A Black Fingered Mud crab - Xanthid crab. Barely hiding behind his rock, and not very well either! I figured- this has got to be my one chance! I ran to the junk drawer, grabbed a rubber band, then proceeded to look for my kabob skewers......and couldnt find them......and couldnt find them.....and still couldnt find them. I figured- crabs gone......and I found them!
I grabbed 2 and got back to the tank, figuring it long gone, but it was still there. Picking at rocks even! I rigged up my ruberband/skewer harpoon, and got him! First shot! He wasnt dead yet though......just skewered and quite alive. I held him pinned to the rock with the skewer, and stabbed him with the second. Had to get him a couple good times, just to be sure. No barbs on the skewers made retracting it from an alive crab risky. Didnt want him to scurry away and possibly die, but possibly not.
Hope it was the only one. The carapice was about the size of a quarter, all black, with zebra stripped legs. The carapice got lost, as the coris wrasse decided he was junch, after the harpooning, but got the body out.
Thought I was stuck with this one!!!! So relieved hes gone!