CRABS, SHRIMP & SNAILS

Scarlet / Red Reef Hermit

(Paguristes cadenati) Harmless - beneficial algae eaters. Beautiful color of red with yellow eye stalks. PLEASE DONT REMOVE SHELLS FROM OCEAN.

Reticulated Hermit Carb

(Iridopagurus reticulatus) Harmless - VERY FAST hermit crabs. Often found in sandy ares they eat algae and detritus. Usually very small - less than a half inch. PLEASE DONT REMOVE SHELLS FROM OCEAN.

Blue Legged Hermit Crab

(Clibanarius tricolor) Harmless - Algae eater. Important for the reef as it clears space for new coral growth. PLEASE DONT REMOVE SHELLS FROM OCEAN. Photo © Florent Charpin

Orange Claw Hermit Crab

(Calcinus tibicen) Harmless - important and abundant. Clean algae off the reef to allow new corals to grow. Under 1 inch. PLEASE DONT REMOVE SHELLS FROM OCEAN. Phot © Florent Charpin

Giant Reef Hermit

(Petrochirus diogenes) Harmless - unless provoked - will/can pinch fingers. Almost always found in conch shells. Likely the crab killed the conch for its home. In the same shell you may find commensal shrimp and the commensal spotted porcelain crab living with the giant hermit. PLEASE DONT REMOVE SHELLS FROM OCEAN.

White Speckled Hermit Crab

(Paguristes punticeps) Harmless unless provoked - Usually found in small conch shells and has beautiful deep blue eyes. PLEASE DONT REMOVE SHELLS FROM OCEAN. Photos © Florent Charpin

Heart Urchin Pea Crab

(Dissodactylus primitivus) Harmless - Barely 7mm in size, the aptly named heart urchin pea crab lives its entire life as a passenger upon the slow-moving red heart urchin (Meoma ventricosa). It is an example of the unusual life that can be found by looking in unexpected places.

Chanel Clinging Crab

(Mithrax spinosissimus) Harmless unless provoked. Powerful claws. is a species of spider crab that occurs throughout South Florida and across the Caribbean Islands. The diet of this crab is largely unknown; however, it is considered a large omnivore, reaching size up to 2 kg, which has been noted to feed on algae and carrion. Unlike crabs such as the blue crab, the West Indian spider crab is not commercially harvested for its meat, though it is said to be delicious

Red-Ridged Clinging Crab

(Mithraculus forceps) Harmless unless provoked. Powerful claws. The diet of this crab is largely unknown; however, it is considered a large omnivore, which has been noted to feed on algae and carrion.

Bat Wing Coral Crab

(Carpilius corallinus) Harmless unless provoked - large pinchers. The Batwing Coral Crab is widespread throughout the tropical waters of the western Atlantic Ocean from the coast of Florida until Brazil including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. It is the largest crab of this geographic area, and is edible. Photo © Florent Charpin

Ocellate Swimming Crab

(Portunus sebae) Harmless unless provoked. Usually seen at night where they venture amongst the reef feeding on detritus and carrion.

Red Haired Swimming Crab

(Achelous ordway) Harmless unless provoked - Usually seen at night foraging among the reef. Fairly uncommon species throughout the USVIs.

Nimble Spray Crab (Sally Light Foot)

(Percnon gibbesi) Harmless - Algae eaters. Often found just below the water line and above the water line and along reefs. Typically hiding in cracks they have bright yellow "eyelashes" that flicker. Very popular in the aquarium hobby. It has been described as "the most invasive decapod species to enter the Mediterranean.

Sargassum Swimming Crab

(Portunus sayi) Harmless unless provoked. Sharp pinchers. A species of pelagic crab in the family Portunidae. It is found in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea where it makes its home among floating mats of Sargassum seaweed. It was named in honour of the American naturalist Thomas Say.

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Spotted Porcelain Crab

(Porcellana sayana) Harmless - A small 1/2 inch species of porcelain crab that lives as a commensal of other larger hermit crabs. It is red with white spots, and has a characteristic bulge behind each claw.

Flame Box Crab

(Calappa flammea) Harmless unless provoked. The Saltwater Flame Box Crab will burry itsefl in the sand and will draw water into its gills and spray it out of the top of its head. It have sharp scissor like claws that it uses to tear open its prey such as hermit crabs.

Arrow Crab

(Stenorhynchus seticornis) Harmless unless provoked - S. seticornis is nocturnal and territorial. It eats small feather duster worms and other coral reef invertebrates.This crab is commonly kept in reef aquariums to control bristle worm populations. t is often found among the anemone's pseudotentacles along with Pederson's cleaning shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni) and the spotted cleaner shrimp (Periclimenes yucatanicus).

Copper Lobster

(Palinurellus gundlachi) Little is know about this small lobster. Usually found only at night amongst the reef and coral heads. Occasionally the sheds wash up on shore. This lobster is orange-red, to orange-brown. No obvious markings on its body. The antennae and claws are short in comparison to the body length. Size: up to 15 cm body length. Photo © Gina D - Boston

Caribbean Spiny Lobster (ADULT)

(Panulirus argus) Harmless - sharp exoskeleton. NOAA not only seeks to protect the spiny lobster resource in U.S. waters, but measures also apply to imports of spiny lobster. Large quantities of spiny lobster are harvested outside U.S. waters at a smaller size than allowed in the continental U.S. and U.S. Caribbean. These size limits are designed to allow spiny lobster to reproduce before they’re harvested. SIZE LIMIT ENFORCED.

Caribbean Spiny Lobster (1 YR OLD)

(Panulirus argus) Harmless - sharp exoskeleton. Larval spiny lobster float in the water column. As they grow, they swim to nearshore habitats and settle in dense vegetation, especially among macroalgae. They live here until they reach about 0.6 to 0.8 inches, then find shelter in crevices until they are about 1-1/2 inches long. When they reach 2 to 3.15 inches, Caribbean spiny lobsters begin to travel from their nearshore nursery habitat to coral reefs and other offshore habitats.

Spotted Spiny Lobster

(Panulirus guttatus) This is a common species, but is reclusive and often only seen at night. This species is harvested (not on a commercial scale) throughout its range, however there are no fisheries data available. There is very little data on the global population, although there is evidence to suggest that there have been declines of approximately 70% from comparisons of fished and protected areas in Belize (Acosta and Robertson 2003).

Spanish Lobster

(Scyllarides aequinoctialis) The Spanish lobster is a species of slipper lobster that lives in the western Atlantic Ocean from South Carolina to São Paulo State, Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and Bermuda. It grows up 12 in long, with a carapace 4.7 in. Edible although somewhat uncommon.

Banded Coral Shrimp

(Stenopus hispidus) Harmless - This cleaner shrimp eats parasites off of fish. It reaches a total length of 2.5 inches and has striking colouration. The ground colour is transparent, but the carapace, abdomen and the large third pereiopod are all banded red and white. The antennae and other pereiopods are white. The abdomen, carapace and third pereiopods are covered in spines.

Sargassum Shrimp

Need exact species ID but believe to be Latreutes parvenus MALE and female is much larger. Harmless - floats in on the Sargassum Algae by the millions. Important in the food chain for many fish including Mahi Mahi.

Sargassum Shrimp

(Latreutes parvulus - ?) We believe this to be a female while the males are picture previously and much smaller. Harmless - floats in on the Sargassum Algae by the millions. Important in the food chain for many fish including Mahi Mahi.

Red Night Shrimp

(Cinetorhynehus manningi) Harmless - This nocturnal shrimp has large dark eyes that light up in torchlight. It has a red body with white or light bands across its body. Size: up to 6 cm. Since this is a nocturnal shrimp, it is hidden deep in the reef during the day. At night it is more often visible, though still shy. Its large eyes are easily seen in torchlight. Depth: ranges from 6 m down to 30 m. Distribution: all throughout the Caribbean.

Spotted Cleaner Shrimp (with eggs)

(Periclimenes yucatanicus) Harmless - The spotted cleaner shrimp is a kind of cleaner shrimp common to the Caribbean Sea. These shrimp live among the tentacles of several species of sea anemones. They sway their body and wave their antennae in order to attract fish from which they eat dead tissue, algae and parasites.

Sun Anemone Shrimp

(Periclimenes rathbunae) Harmless - Fairly rare throughout the USVIs. This shrimp lives amongst the Sun Anemone (Stichodactyla helianthus) they sway their body and wave their antennae in order to attract fish from which they eat dead tissue, algae and parasites.

Pedersons Cleaning Shrimp

(Ancylomenes pedersoni) Harmless - A common cleaner shrimp. Pederson's shrimp lives in association with a sea anemone, either Bartholomea annulata or Condylactis gigantea, living among the tentacles with impunity. Before it can do this it needs to acclimatise itself to the anemone by progressively pressing its body and appendages against the tentacles for increasing periods of time. After this it is able to move between the tentacles without getting stung.

Squat Anemone Shrimp (Sexy Shrimp)

(Thor amboinensis) a small shrimp growing to a length of about 0.5 in. It is an olive brown colour with symmetrically placed white patches edged with thin blue lines. It characteristically carries its abdomen curved upwards with its tail fan above its head. Named "Sexy" shrimp for its dancing like tail swinging. One or several shrimps live among the tentacles of their host anemone, feeding on the tentacle tissue and on the mucus-trapped planktonic particles adhering to it.

Red Snapping Shrimp

(Alpheus armatus) Painful if provoked - Obligate associate of the corkscrew anemone, Bartholomea annulata. Anemone tentacles protect the shrimp against predators. Small anemones often shelter single juvenile shrimp, while a large cluster of anemones usually contain a male-female pair. Shrimps usually stay close to the anemone column or in deep cavities (maintained natural "burrows") close to anemones. Adults are highly territorial and defend their host anemone against all intruders.

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Dark Mantis

(Neogonodactylus curacaoensis - ?) Harmful if provoked - Do not handle. This mantis is a "smasher" thats lives in coral rock and rubble and usually inhabits a rock with multiple entrances and exits. Diurnal and typically harmless but they will defend themselves by using their claws which can puncture human skin. This one was found in garbage and put back onto the reef. Common.

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