Crab in my Brain? WARNING HUGE PICTURE!

Rippin · #1 01-12-2007, 06:45 AM

Well, last night I saw a second, VERY tiny, whitish crab doing the same thing - burrowing into the flesh of the brain. But by the next morning there was no trace of the hole anymore. Well it doesn't seem to bother the coral, so I guess I won't worry about it.

Keana · #2 01-12-2007, 03:15 PM

I discovered this crab in my tank a couple of months ago and I have been meaning to post a pic and see if anyone knows what it is. From the little bit that I could see in the picture of your first post I thought they looked a little similar.... My crab is not in any of my corals but he does go in and out of a rock with a little hole. He is very shy and only comes out just before lights out or at night. I have seen him many times now as he is getting a little braver. So far all I have ever seen him eating is algae, and detritus. I have a pic, sorry but my camera only has 4X zoom so it's not the best.......

Rippin · #3 01-13-2007, 04:49 AM

I can't say if the crab in my brain coral is the same as yours, Keana. It only sticks a bit of it's head out (when I'm looking). It most probably comes out at night. I'm thinking of trying to extract this crab from the coral. If I am successful I'll try to post a picture of the crab. I just don't want to hurt the coral while doing so.

Diana · #4 01-13-2007, 05:07 AM

I can't see a thing! You think you could circle it in photoshop or something....

Rippin · #5 01-13-2007, 05:27 AM

OK I've altered the image to make it a bit easier to find the crab hole

Snappy · #6 01-13-2007, 06:53 AM

wow, nice brain

Rippin · #7 01-13-2007, 07:28 AM

OK, I was able to take out the crabs as they were emerging at night.

I honestly don't know if the big invertebrate that I pulled out is a crab! The really tiny one with the green back looks like a crab to me. They are both very slow moving creatures. Anyway, the larger of the two was definitely growing in the brain coral for quite some time because after I took it out, it left a substantially deep hole (about 1 cm). I hope the brain coral will just grow over and close this hole up.

If anyone can help identify what I pulled out, that would be great.

..and here are the pictures: