Found Snapping Lobster in my Acro?

[Beverly]

Haven't seen one of our fish for a day or so, so I took the flashlight tonight to see if I could find either its hiding place or its body

Didn't find the fish, but did find a small orange lobster-like thing hiding in the acropora. Got DH with a second flashlight to try to flush the thing out so it could be removed, but it wouldn't budge from it's great hideout Don't know if it'll harm the acro or not.

Anybody have anything living in their acros? Or heard of such a thing? Any ideas if it'll harm the acro, or do you think it just hides there cuz it's a great hideout?

Any thoughts on the matter will be greatly appreciated. TIA.

[EmilyB]

It might be a commensal crab which is very common. They do not kill fish. They keep the acro clean of algae and debris, if that is what it is.

[ranz]

Could it be a mantis shrimp? They will eat a fish.... and another fish and another fish....

Usually they live in rocks, Im not sure what acro is?

Ranzreef

[Aquattro]

Beverly, it's probably a commensal shrimp. I have a small greenish one in one of my colonies, and a clear one in another. They live there for safety and protect the acro from predation.

[Beverly]

Originally Posted by ranz

Could it be a mantis shrimp? They will eat a fish.... and another fish and another fish....

Usually they live in rocks, Im not sure what acro is?

Ranzreef

Here are some images of Stomatopods (mantis shrimp):

http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pics1.htm
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pics/hensigdc.htm
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pics...la_collage.htm
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...LSS/Mantis.htm

Here are some commensal crab pages:

http://www.imagequest3d.com/pages/ar.../trapezius.htm
http://www.td-club.com.tw/images/Ima...l%20shrimp.jpg

Acropora photo from J&L (ours is brown in colour, but looks like these):

http://www.jlaquatics.com/cgi-bin/sh...logno=c-facroa


So, from the above photos, our critter looks somewhat like the mantis shrimp in that it has a long slender body, but unlike the mantis because it has long extended front legs with long claws.

On the other hand, it could be a variety of commensal crabs, though they seem to have rounder bodies than the sleek long body of what we could see of our guy, who looks like he's less than an inch to about an inch long. Pretty hard to see his whole body in amongst the acro branches.

I'll study the photos and our hitchhiker more closely and keep an eye out for more disapperaing fish. The fish that was lost was one that spent time hiding in holes in the live rock, so a mantis shrimp might be what we have

If it is a mantis, we'll have to build a trap to catch it

Hmm

Thanks for your input, Deb and ranz.

[Quinn]

Originally Posted by ranz

Usually they live in rocks, Im not sure what acro is?

acropora coral.

[Bob I]

Originally Posted by ranz

Could it be a mantis shrimp? They will eat a fish.... and another fish and another fish....

Usually they live in rocks, Im not sure what acro is?

Ranzreef