Trapezia cymodoce

Super Group: 
Opisthokonta
Phylum: 
Arthropoda
Sub-Phylum: 
Crustacea
Class: 
Malacostraca
Sub-Class: 
Eumalacostraca
Order: 
Decapoda
Sub-Order: 
Pleocyemata
Family: 
Trapeziidae
Genus: 
Trapezia
Species: 
cymodoce
Authority: 
Herbst 1801
Synonym(s): 
Trapezia coerulea Rüppell 1830

Diagnosis

Trapezia cymodoce (the blue coral crab) is a small crab that is an obligate symbiont of Pocillopora corals. They live within the branches on these coral, where they receive protection from predation as well as their food source; coral mucous. In return the coral gets a cleaner of excess sediment and a guard to fend away coral predators such as the Crown-of-Thorns starfish.  T. cymodoce can be found living within Pocillopora corals throughout the Heron Island reef and they have wide tropical distribution from the Red sea, thru the Indo-West pacific and out into the Central South Pacific. These crabs typically occur in heterosexual pairs, with only a single pair typically found inhabiting and guarding a single Pocillopora coral head. Males are thought to undergo nocturnal migrations in order to find a better coral head.

Observation site(s)

SYMBIONTS

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