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A hermit crab emerges from its shell, Coenobita perlatus Outside its shell, the soft, curved abdomen of hermit crabs, such as Pagurus bernhardus, is vulnerable. Hermit crab species range in size and shape, from species only a few millimeters long to Coenobita brevimanus (Indos Crab), which can approach the size of a coconut and live 12–70 years.
The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is a terrestrial species of giant hermit crab, and is also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest terrestrial arthropod known, with a weight of up to 4.1 kg (9 lb). The distance from the tip of one leg to the tip of another can be as wide as 1 m (3 ft 3 in).
Coenobita is closely related to the coconut crab, Birgus latro, with the two genera making up the family Coenobitidae.The name Coenobita was coined by Pierre André Latreille in 1829, from an Ecclesiastical Latin word, ultimately from the Greek κοινόβιον, meaning "commune"; the genus is masculine in gender.
This land hermit crab lives in mangrove trees, are mainly nocturnal, and terrestrial species, however often prefer salt water inside of its shell. [4] The larger hermit crabs have been known to submerge their entire bodies into the sea water. The saltwater is used to bind the shell to the crabs back through the high salinity in the water. [6]
A Caribbean hermit crab in the Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida. The Caribbean hermit crab (Coenobita clypeatus), also known as the soldier crab, [2] West Atlantic crab, tree crab, or purple pincher (due to the distinctive purple claw), is a species of land hermit crab native to the west Atlantic, Belize, southern Florida, [3] Venezuela, and the West Indies.
Its members are commonly called the 'symmetrical hermit crabs'. [2] They live in all the world's oceans, except the Arctic and the Antarctic , [ 2 ] at depths of 2,000 m (6,600 ft). [ 3 ] Due to their cryptic nature and relative scarcity, only around 60 specimens had been collected before 1987, when a monograph was published detailing a further ...
P. armatus is one of the largest species of hermit crab: [3] adults may reach a carapace length of 43 mm (1.7 in). [6] The legs, including the claws, have bands of colour, in red, orange and white, and the claws bear short spines on the dorsal surface. [6] The eyestalks are short, but bear large black compound eyes. [6]
Clibanarius erythropus is a species of hermit crab that lives in rockpools and sublittoral waters. [2] It is found in the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and eastern Atlantic Ocean from the Azores to Brittany, the Channel Islands and as far north as the south Cornwall coast. [2] [3] [4] Individuals may grow up to a carapace length of 15 ...