HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Here's a copy of my post on LHC. Basically, I think that all this time, we've been misidentifying C. violascens as C. cavipes.

From studying Tony's Coenobita website, I've been questioning cav IDs.

Here's his page on violascens:
http://www.tonycoenobita.com/species_violascens_ch2.htm

Note that these are all large crabs, so their structure and colors are more mature than smaller ones. The red antennae are very apparent, and the back left leg has the "cav"/indo structure. The eyes are dark and mysterious. While the main body is deep purple/blue in color, the lower extremities still show orange gradient, and the claw shows the same stripe.

In fact, running the site through babelfish translate shows the following text: "The deep purple land hermit crabyoung bodybody color mostly will be an orange yellow,but along with the growth,on the body the color then can gradually substitute by the dark blue,only remains in the chestfoot or the chelafoot terminal as soon as wipes orange yellow, but the adult body color end will transfer dark blue orthe purpleblack"

And there's pictures at the bottom showing our traditional orange/yellow "cavs".



Now, the cavipes page shows quite a different picture:
http://www.tonycoenobita.com/species_cavipes_ch2.htm

These still have the bp stripe, and the leg has the twist, but with a more exaggerated feature. However, the antennae are clearly more like Indo antennae, with large orange bases, but the feelers are not red.

I've seen pictures of some people having these more dark-brown tinted Indos (rather than the more traditional purple), and it seems that those indos might actually be real cavipes. Though the eyes are definitely dark and square like the caves we know.

In fact, the babelfish translate shows this sentence: "Can mistake in foreign very many peoplethe deep purple landhermit crab for the concave full land hermit crab,but actually so long as has a look its first antenna whether assumes red then may know,the concave full land hermit crab first antenna is not assumes red"

He is clearly addressing here the fact that foreign people (namely us) have been mistaking the violascens for the cavipes, and reiterates that if the antenna is red, then it's a violascens, not a cavipes.

I'll also point out these pictures from Japan in hermitcrabparadise that show a violascens sealed in its shell that definitely looks like our cavs:
http://www.hermitcrabparadise.com/photo ... m=26&pos=3

Every once in a while, I gotta rock the boat

Wow!!

That makes them even MORE interesting and exciting...

Very interesting information and definatly something to look into more. Thanks for rocking the boat.

That's very interesting. What exactly is he saying a Cav would look like though? It's a little confusing since I can't read what his actual web page says.

Edit- sorry I just saw the Cav page... wow very interesting. It's always strange when things like this get questioned... I have to go now though as there is a storm. ty for sharing.

I'm trying to absorb that info myself. Very intersting.

same here Crabber lol.

That was very interesting, would be easier to understand in English

But I do think we're on something here!!

OH! This would explain why Indo's are still somewhat more difficult to keep then even Cavipes.

I've always figured maps and whatnot to list Cavipes and Indos to be from the same area... but the issues had in keeping them in captivity are different. hmmmm...

Maybe I'm off on that one there. Just something that popped in my head.

Does that mean we can find C. violascens here?



Yahoo image Search:
C. violascens

Cavipes

Wow. I'm suddenly less confused. I think I have genuine C. cavipes, not C. violascens like everyone else's "Cavs".



See my thread in the pictures forum - viewtopic.php?t=39096

I was looking at the pics very closely last night, trying to get a handle on which was which and indentifing the differences.

It was confusing to me because on both pages there were pics of crabs with red antennas, and then it was stated that the ones with red antenna were not cavis. Plus since it wasn't in English, which sadly is the only language I speak it made it even more difficult to understand for me. The only clear identifier in my mind was the thickness of the antenna base on the "real cavi". I've never been been really good at identification by the legs, but the difference in the antenna I can see.

Then I looked closely at the pics I've taken of my two "cavis" and I'm still somewhat confused. I do think I see the fatter antenna base on Coco, but I'm not sure I do with Thomas. Pics are hard though with different angles and lighting, I'll to have a lot more pics before I feel like I can say for sure either way about what I've got.

I hope we aren't getting C.violascens, aren't they endangered?

crabber wrote: I hope we aren't getting C.violascens, aren't they endangered?

I have no idea if the Violas are or not.. I never heard of them before until I read this thread... lol.. something new to add/change on my identification list!

When I get my bigger tank I would love to add another species but I was wondering what makes it hard to care for an indo and a cavipe?

well my Kahuna is the spitting image of the C.violascens (and what by the way are we calling them (nickname) cause I cant pronounce this ) then my Grubber might be a Cav--Oh I wish I knew

Well after looking at both of the pages it seems that Kenny is a C. violascens. He looks VERY similar to the small crab on the bottom of the C. violascens page. I can see the differences with the antennas, and he has those of the Violas

Wow this is so strange. I really would like to here from other "Cav" owners if they think they really have a Cav. It is going to be interesting how many cavs we really have here at the HCA. Gorthaur, looking at that crab, and the Cav page he looks like a "real" cav. What has his behavior been like?

I have had Kenny who I now think is a Viola (hee hee can we use that as a short name) for a year and four months. If that's what he really is, that species does not seem to be much different in care needs then other species.

Some people report about their "Cavs" being lazy. Kenny is not lazy, and one of the most active in the tank. I wonder if Cavs really are the lazy ones, and the C.violascens have this active behavior trait.

Herm-EZ wrote:well my Kahuna is the spitting image of the C.violascens (and what by the way are we calling them (nickname) cause I cant pronounce this ) then my Grubber might be a Cav--Oh I wish I knew

I've been calling them Violas

MacandHunter wrote:Well after looking at both of the pages it seems that Kenny is a C. violascens. He looks VERY similar to the small crab on the bottom of the C. violascens page. I can see the differences with the antennas, and he has those of the Violas

Wow this is so strange. I really would like to here from other "Cav" owners if they think they really have a Cav. It is going to be interesting how many cavs we really have here at the HCA. Gorthaur, looking at that crab, and the Cav page he looks like a "real" cav. What has his behavior been like?

I have had Kenny who I now think is a Viola (hee hee can we use that as a short name) for a year and four months. If that's what he really is, that species does not seem to be much different in care needs then other species.

Some people report about their "Cavs" being lazy. Kenny is not lazy, and one of the most active in the tank. I wonder if Cavs really are the lazy ones, and the C.violascens have this active behavior trait.

My two "real" Cavs are pretty much the laziest crabs I've ever owned. They both molted a little over a week ago, and they have yet to show any inclination of wanting to come out of the cocohut. I can tell they're healthy, though, because they move very quickly when I try to hold them. They also seem unusually strong.