This crab is found on several different anemones, including Cryptodendrum adhaesivum and Stichodactyla haddoni. Despite the large and rather formidable-looking claws, it feeds largely on plankton using handnets. In some of the photos below, you can see long filaments extending from its forward appendages. It uses those to scoop plankton out of the water. Periodically, it pulls the appendages toward its mouth, where the filaments pull closer together, and another specialized appendage packed with shorter, stiffer hairs brushes off the captured plankton directly into the crab's mouth.
One of the books we use suggests the one with the larger red spots is a different species, but having found them together on the same anemone, we kind of think they are just color forms.
Created 1 September 2010
Updated 31 August 2013