My Marine Tank MHC Citizens

Mokulele_Hawai'i · Post by **Mokulele_Hawai'i** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 11:22 pm

Calcinus laevimanus

Clibanarius eurysternus

Clibanarius humilis

Clibanarius longitarsus

Clibanarius virescens

Clibanarius striolatus

Clibanarius snelliusi

May be Pagurixus sp. or Pagurus sp. (?)

Mokulele_Hawai'i · Post by **Mokulele_Hawai'i** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 12:08 am

Some sea snails:
Astralium calcar & Tectus fenestratus

Turbo cinereus

Strombus luhuanus

Nerita chamaeleon

Nerita spengleriana

Phyllidia varicosa - a colorful nudibranch

kgbenson · Post by **kgbenson** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 8:02 am

I can't help you with Iding them, but the Unknown Clibanarius sp. and possible Dardanus are spectacular looking critters.

I didn't know you were into marine hermits as well. What kind of setups are you running? Most folks in the US that have reef tanks have hermits, but usually as clean up crew and they don't pay any particular attention to them. A shame really - they ca just as entertaining as their terrestrial cousins.

I have a pair of little reds and a tiny unknown in my nano-reef. They are a hoot. Far more interesting than the fish.

Keith

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 9:50 am

Beautiful collection!!I think marine hermies and crabs are amazing!!

hlhiggs87 · Post by **hlhiggs87** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 10:08 am

Your crabs are AMAZING!! I think MHCs are so beautiful.

MudCrabDude · Post by **MudCrabDude** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 3:12 pm

The live Nerita snails a pretty cool; never seen 'em before with their original inhabitants.

Crab Addict · Post by **Crab Addict** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 3:34 pm

Wow! Amazing colors on marine hermits. My parents own the top two species in their 92 g. saltwater tank. The top species is getting pretty big! Do you know what size they will max out at, they definitely have plenty of room to grow lol.

Mokulele_Hawai'i · Post by **Mokulele_Hawai'i** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 1:43 am

Thank you for your comments, friends ... here are some more new members of my marine tank:

Calcinus latens

Clibanarius corallinus

Clibanarius rhabodactylus

Unknown species of Pagurus sp. - once seemed dragging his female around the aquarium base:

Mokulele_Hawai'i · Post by **Mokulele_Hawai'i** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 11:42 pm

Calcinus sp.

Calcinus elegans

Calcinus morgani

Ciliopagurus sp

Ciliopagurus strigatus

Dardanus sp.

Dardanus megistos

Dardanus guttatus

Dardanus pedunculatus - a Dardanus species who is fond of collecting anemones & sticking them on the shell for camoulflage.

Pagurus sp.

Pagurus birtimanus - a cutie with right BP.

Unknown species - perhaps a member of Pagurus genus with very long extending left BP.

Xyloart · Post by **Xyloart** » Fri Nov 26, 2010 12:42 am

Those are amazing!!! Thanks so much for sharing!

Mokulele_Hawai'i · Post by **Mokulele_Hawai'i** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 9:51 am

My new fist-size Dardanus megistos with his loyal companions on the shell: a rock snail and an anemone ( it seems that the snail doesn't want to leave him ).

He has moved into new shells ( twice ) - and now he's inhabiting a large Melon shell (Melo melo tesselata)

I have three decorator crabs (Camposcia discusa) - this is the largest one with the most colorful "accessories" on the skin

I got some horseshoe crabs ( Tachypleus tridentatus - but actually they are NOT crabs ).

suebee · Post by **suebee** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:14 pm

The photos show up so nice on here.. any chance when you have time you can post the photo of the albino perlatus? in another thread some one was just discussing if there can be albino hermits?
The horse shoe crabs near us are everywhere.. they do research on the blood for them. http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/factsheets/ ... _crab.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_horseshoe_crab
http://www.lehsd.k12.nj.us/Summer2002/M ... 202002.htm
I live neat the tuckerton seaport where they often do blood samples and other research on the "not crabs" Amazing creatures!

TheCrabbyTabby · Post by **TheCrabbyTabby** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:34 pm

To add to Suebee's post, the researchers take the horseshoe crabs from the ocean, bring them to a lab to extract a sample of their blood, which is blue by the way, and then release the animals roughly where they caught them so that they don't do damage to their populations.

The blood of a horse shoe crab has natural immunities and other properties that the scientists study to help with fighting diseases and such. Here is the excerpt from wikapedia which describes the blood of the horseshoe crab.

Unlike humans, horseshoe crabs do not have hemoglobin in their blood, but instead use hemocyanin to carry oxygen. Because of the copper present in hemocyanin, their blood is blue. Their blood contains amebocytes, which play a role similar to white blood cells for vertebrates in defending the organism against pathogens. Amebocytes from the blood of L. polyphemus are used to make Limulus amebocyte lysate, which is used for the detection of bacterial endotoxins.

It should also be noted that, like previously stated by Mokulele, a horseshoe crab is not even a crab, nor is it a crustacean, they actually belong in the sub-phylum Chelicerata. They are actually a close relative of spiders and scorpions.

That concludes your random animal lesson for today.

suebee · Post by **suebee** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 5:15 pm

actually they dont even take the crabs to the lab any more they gather them and take the blood right on site and release them right away. The horseshoes are protected in New Jersey now. Once the Steve Irwin died from the sting ray tail people have been killing the Horse shoe crabs thinking that they use the tail as a weapon.. They do not ever, its only used to help flip them over if they get flipped on the back. They are totally harmless.

SebbyCrab · Post by **SebbyCrab** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 5:41 pm

Beautiful marine crabs.

We have these guys in our reef. Along with some of the more common marine crabs found in the US.