Right Handed Coral Hermit Crab

Appearance

Size to 1 cm. Claws have brown and white netted pattern. Eyestalks white with black stripes and white yellowish spotted dark eyes. Feathered (second) antennae enable the crab to utilize plankton carried by the water.

Naming

Also known as Tube-Dwelling Crab.

Distribution

Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Raja Amat

Habitat

Sessile. Inhabits tubes in living hard coral. These tubes are in fact made by the polychaete worm, Spirobranchus giganteus and the crab inhabits them when the worm is no longer there.