Hermit Crab

It is so easy to find hermit crab. If you see a fast “walking” snail shell, that’s it. Hermit Crab uses discarded shells for protection. The one I show here is a mangrove hermit crab (genus Clibanarius), which is easily identified by its blue-striped legs.

Hermit Crabs are scavengers, with a good sense of smell. When threaten, they will retreat into their shells. They are very impatient though. After 1 or 2 minutes, they will try to crawl away.

Since a dead shell cannot grow with the body of hermit crab, as they become larger, they look for and move into larger shells. I wonder how they pick or upgrade a “house”. It even uses wood as its home (below is the evidence)!