A Real Stumper - Ideas, Anyone??
I have found that there is a freshwater hermit crab (not a land crab) that lives on of the Islands of Vanuatu.  Do you know if this hermit crab is available to the aquarium trade? I am also interested in a freshwater spider crab, Amarinus lacustris native to Australia and New Zealand. Can you tell me if either on is available?  Moon
<Please forgive the lateness with which I am responding.  You've given us quite a toughie, with this one.  I'm afraid information on these animals is extremely elusive.  In fact, I could find nothing on a freshwater hermit from Vanuatu.  The other, however, Amarinus lacustris, I was able to find some (vague) information, but not much.  Mostly only squibs on captions.  I am unclear whether this animal is a true freshwater crab, or whether it is a brackish/marine crab that sometimes finds its way into freshwater.  The only really solid bit of info I've found is that it seems to be found in association with the plant Cotula coronopifolia.  I, personally, have never seen nor heard of either of these two crabs being offered in the trade in the US.  This will be posted on the Daily FAQs page, so hopefully somebody out there will see, know, and respond with further info.  Anybody?  Our fingers are crossed.  Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>

A Real Stumper - II Re: Freshwater hermit crabs
Here is a site with a little bit of info about Amarinus lacustris  http://www.nzfreshwater.org/crustacea.html
<I did see this in my searches, and unfortunately, that was the largest chunk of info I found, and I couldn't find anything to verify it with.>
and another with mention of the freshwater hermit crab from Vanuatu  http://www.crustacea.net/crustace/anomura/
<I saw this, as well - I'm sure you agree the mention of it is vague, at best, eh?  Upon further inspection, you'll see a reference marked at the end of the sentence mentioning this crab.  Go to the references page linked at the left, scroll down, and you'll find the following reference:  "McLaughlin, P.A. & T. Murray, 1990. Clibanarius fonticola, new species (Anomura: Paguridea: Diogenidae), from a fresh-water pool on Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. Journal of Crustacean Biology 10: 695-702."  A Google search on Clibanarius fonticola yielded a PDF file with only a passing mention of this species under a description of another Clibanarius species, but I was unable to find any further information on C. fonticola at all.  If you have an interest in finding more, I'd suggest to seek out the McLaughlin and Murray reference, and see where that takes you.  Good luck in your search for knowledge, and I'll be sure to let you know if anyone brings more info to light for us.  Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>
Michael