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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.
Because the hermit crab lives in the bottom of rock pools and ocean floors, and due to its size, its predator list is long. It is easy prey for the likes of fish, and octopus. [15] Other crabs are also known to eat the smaller and more unprotected species, like the hermit crab, hence the need for shells to protect the soft body.
Like other hermit crabs, Clibanarius vittatus lives inside the empty shell of a gastropod mollusc. This protects its soft abdomen and normally only its head and limbs project through the aperture of the shell. The chelipeds (claw-bearing legs) and claws of Clibanarius vittatus are small, both the same size, and covered in short bristles. When ...
The white-spotted hermit crabs are gonochorics, the eggs are carried on the female's abdomen. They also are opportunistic omnivore, mainly feeding on small invertebrates (worms, molluscs, etc.) and they are also reported to feed on holothurians. Commonly these crabs perform a precopulatory courtship ritual. Usually the sperm transfer is indirect.
The red reef hermit crab is a scavenger, feeding on animal and vegetable detritus. The sexes are separate in this species and it breeds throughout the year. The eggs are orange and hatch into planktonic larvae. When these settle on the seabed, the juvenile hermit crabs need to search for a suitable shell to occupy.
Female coenobitids return to the sea to hatch their eggs and their larvae develop through planktonic zoeal stages to a megalopa, in a similar way as the marine hermit crabs. Just like these species, after settlement, terrestrial hermit crabs megalopae recognize and co-opt gastropods shells, before migrating into the land and molting to the ...
Long-wristed hermit crabs are scavenger feeders with a broad diet consisting of detritus, organic material found in ocean surface foam, microcrustaceans and algae. [8] [10] Feeding is performed by scooping sand or other substrate with the chelipeds, ripping and tearing food, and then passing it to the mouth for consumption.
They are able to venture far inland, in altitudes exceeding 800 m (2,600 ft). In spite of this, the ovigerous females must release the fertilized eggs in the ocean for the larvae to develop (as with all known species of terrestrial hermit crabs). [3] The species is presumably named for the dark red coloration of their exoskeleton.