[Originally posted to the Moorea Coral Reef LTER (MCR LTER) Marine Life Encyclopedia]
Coral Crab or "House Keeper" Crab
(Tetralia
nigrolineata)
![Coral Crab or "House Keeper" Crab - Tetralia nigrolineata Coral Crab or "House Keeper" Crab - Tetralia nigrolineata](http://mcr.lternet.edu/education/encyclopedia/images/Creature_Images/52.jpg)
Photo by Hannah Stewart. Text by H. Stewart and G. Bergsma.
Tetralia crabs actively clean sediment off
their host corals, enabling small corals to survive in high-sediment
areas where they would otherwise be smothered.
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Crabs of the genus Tetralia are found throughout the Indo-Pacific. T. nigrilineata has been reported from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Cook Islands, and New Caledonia. |
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Shallow tropical reefs, reef flats and lagoons where Acropora corals grow. |
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Coral mucus. |
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Tetralia live only on Acropora corals and feed on their mucus. |
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- National Geographic Kids - Moorea Biocode Database |
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