[3] The longnose spider crab is found on the eastern seaboard of the United States at depths down to about 50 metres (160 ft).

It is eaten by predatory fish such as the pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides), the gag grouper (Mycteroperca microlepis) and the oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau).

Along the East Coast of the US, where Dictyota menstrualis is present, these crabs recognize and preferentially select this chemically noxious algae.

[6] Longnose spider crabs are often found living inside the bells of cannonball jellies, Stomolophus meleagris.

[3] It is thought they gain access as juveniles when the jellyfish happens to drift near the seabed or possibly they may metamorphosise from larvae directly inside the bell.

It may be a symbiotic relationship with the crabs gaining protection from predators and obtaining food from their hosts but any benefit to the jellyfish is unclear, especially as its tissues may be nibbled.