Emerald Crab

Emerald Crab

One of my favorite marine invertebrates to add to my marine aquariums is crabs. Today we are writing about the Emerald Crab (Mithrax Sculptus ) The emerald crab spends a lot of its time hiding in a favorite crevice or small whole in the live rock in the aquarium. They will come out and search for food, usually picking from live rock, and the glass of the aquarium. On occasions they will venture out during the day and look for food. They are fun to watch and are surprisingly fast.

I love watching my emerald crab. I also enjoy reviewing my videos of tanks as they usually reveal something that I didn’t see as I watched my emerald crab. Usually emerald crabs hide during the day or when the lighting is bright. This is one of those rare occasions when they are out exploring during the day.

Emerald Crabs are scavengers and will help clean the tank of scrap food. They are also known to eat algae usually bubble algae. Not all will eat algae. So don’t count on them keeping your tank algae free. If they are not fed to satisfaction they have been know to feed on polyps of corals in marine aquariums.