Romblon 25 April to 3 May 2026 Macro photos of small crabs

Without local knowledge provided by a “spotter“ who can uncover these tiny treasures it would take many tank full of Nitrox to find and photograph them Possibly also damaging the environment in the process.

Erap my spotter was turning over and peering into corals and here are a few he discovered and I photographed.

The first is a brilliant coral gall crab like a living opal and then the sponge crab looking just like the markings on a large sponge resting on the sand.

The tattoo crab has colourful geometric patterns on its dorsum whilst the spider is almost transparent

The xenia swimming crab has the same coloured pattern on its claws and mimics the flower heads which pulsate the xenia soft coral .

Finally the Hong Kong gall crab has a cloak of exoskeleton which it uses to bury itself in the surface of the hard coral.