hermit crabs
Borrowed-home beach dwellers
Hermit crabs are soft-bodied crustaceans that protect themselves by inhabiting empty shells, typically those of sea snails.
As they grow, they must find progressively larger shells to occupy.
Some species are kept as pets.
The name reflects their solitary appearance, each crab carrying its shelter like a hermit's dwelling.
- decapodsTen-appendaged sea creatures
- crustaceansExoskeleton-bearing aquatic arthropods
- shellsProtective outer layers
- carapaceProtective dorsal exoskeleton
- tide poolsSeawater pockets in rocks
tide pool creatures · molting · exoskeleton · gastropods · crayfish · spiral shells · antennae · intertidal zone · scavengers · oceans · shell collecting · invertebrate · symbiotic relationships · sea anemone · scuttle · burrow · pincers · beach
hermit crabsmud crabs
Large edible coastal crustaceans
Dungeness crab · blue crabs · blue crab · Dungeness crabs · king crab
hermit crabssnails
Shelled terrestrial gastropods
mollusks · turtles · nautilus · tortoises · armadillos
crab, crabby, hermit, crabs, recluse, hermitage, crabbed, crabbing, hermit crab