Small crab or lobster on soft coral

[Alexis 0]

 

i'd love to id this little guy

 

thanks

 

alex

[Leslie 0]

The common name is squat lobster. They're in the family Galatheidae which are anomurans along with hermit crabs & porcelain crabs. The easiest way to distinguish anomurans & true crabs (brachyurans) is that anomurans have 4 pairs of legs while true crabs which are in Brachyura have 5 pairs of legs. There are hundreds of species and I've heard estimates that there are even more undescribed species than named ones.

[Alexis 0]

thank you !