Decorator Crabs Know All About Local Style

Wow…I just watched a show on Animal Planet this week with Jeff Corwin where he showed us a decorator crab.

I had never heard of a Decorator Crab before this week.

What they do is grab materials from their surroundings to camouflage themselves.

So, they’ll attach seaweed, algae, plants, sponges, etc to the hooks on their exoskeleton so they blend right in with their underwater environment.

Unbelievably neat.

If you had one of these decorator crabs as a pet, for example, and put a number of tiny pieces of material/swatches in the tank, they would grab them and attach them to their shell because that’s what’s in the immediate area where they live.

Awesome animals!

Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Infraorder: Brachyura
Family: Majidae
Genus: Naxia
Species: N. tumida

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I hope you enjoyed this Marine Invertebrates post on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…

Live Exotically,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. Get your very own Decorator Crab as a pet – how neat is that?

Camposcia retusa “Decorator Crab”- Large The Decorator Crab makes a unique addition to the saltwater aquarium but should be placed in an aquarium with some caution. In the wild they normally use bits of sponge and soft corals to decorate themselves, but have also been seen with anything from plastic to paper on them. They are not recommended in most reef aquariums because they can rip mushrooms or polyps off the rocks use as decoration.In fish-only aquariums they make a nice addition as long as there are no fish that will look at them as food. Fish such as large wrasses, puffers, or triggers are considered predators of the decorator crab. Feed them small pieces of meaty foods, such as krill or silversides occasionally. They will also search the aquarium looking for excess food leftover from your fish.

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