Strange incident

[richwill]

Late last night, after several glasses of champagne, I was inspecting my tank with a flashlight. I was amazed, and a little dismayed, to see this unidentified hermit carrying my Heteractis malu on it's back. The poor anemone was dragged all over the tank. You can just make out the anemone on the hermit's back in the picture. This morning I found the anemone somewhat battered, but still alive. Anyone able to identify the hermit? The anemone invading the retracted green star polyp, Pachyclavularia violacea is also unidentified.

 

[Rich-n-poor]

The Left Handed Hermit calcinus laevimanus This is a common crab along the shorelines of hiawii It has an enlarged left claw, blue eyes with orange eyestalks, brown legs with white tips and orange antenna.

The Reef Aquarium Vol 2

I have seen some variation in color of legs on these but the giveaways are the enlarged claw and blue eyes.

Some have only orange bands on their eyestalks but all I have seen have orange antenna

HTH

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[davelin315]

I have many of the hermits that you have and they are very uncommon in the reef trade IMO and experience. I caught mine in Hawaii, and posted a picture long ago asking if anyone could identify them. I think that calling it a left handed hermit is a misnomer, as their is a species common in the reef trade that is referred to as a left handed hermit that looks nothing like that one. I just call mine Hawaiian hermits, and refer to the brown ones with the very enlarged left claw that is half white the left handed hermits. I have even brought samples of my hermits into stores to see if they could identify them, and no one has to date. That's great that they're in a book, but I think using a common name is inaccurate. It's like saying I have a tang and an angel in my tank without saying what kind it is.

Anyway, it's a harmless species IME and will scavenge like any other. I have never noticed them preying on their neighbors, although they will attack dying animals, but not dying corals. They are a nice addition to a reef due to their coloration, and they generally don't get too large. There are many color variations of them, and I think that instead of lumping them in with the left handed hermits, I would lump them in with the blue leg hermits, although they are a much less aggressive species than the blue legs.