Galveston spotted crab ID? (1 Viewer)

[tektite]

Went to catch some snails for my lace murex since its chowing down through my Nerite population alarmingly fast, caught this guy.

Haven't seen a crab like it before, its legs are very flat and it doesn't appear to have claws except for some very small ones around its mouth. Including legs, its around 2.5" across. The closest I've found online has been moon crabs, they seem to have similar legs but I haven't found one with this spotted pattern.

Any ideas?

Also caught this cute little guy Didn't even know it until I got home!

 

[jdeveaux]

He is missing his pincher claws... Those front nubs are where they will grow back out. Definitely not a reef friendly crab. I had a couple of those in my bucket from the sargassum and I found them munching on the shrimp I had caught

It's a spotted Sargassum crab and it dines on the pods and shrimp in the sargassum... I don't know how big it gets.

 

[tektite]

Thanks, I figured it was missing a set of legs. I wonder if it'll survive.

 

[AquaticExperience]

That is a sargassum crab and sargassum frogfish, angler, or terror. They go by several different names.