Hermit crab, also known as "white house" and "dry house", its shape is like a shrimp, and like a crab, it is a unique arthropod that lives in the shell of mollusks (such as shells, conch shells, snail shells, etc.).
Hermit crab animation
The tail of the hermit crab is soft and swirled towards the center, usually to the right to accommodate the spiral chamber of the snail, and the specialized tail is used to hook the inside of the shell when hiding inside the shell, so that it will not be pulled out.
The hermit crab is inside the shell
The reason why the hermit crab lives in the conch shell is because the hermit crab has a soft abdomen, no carapace cover protection, and is very vulnerable to attack and death, and the use of the snail shell as their mobile home is its survival wisdom to avoid danger. As the hermit crabs grew older, the old houses gradually became crowded, so they needed to constantly change their shells and find a more suitable shelter.
Hermit crabs that inhabit various shells
Hermit crabs that inhabit various shells
Lucky hermit crabs will pick up suitable snail shells on the large beach, but most of the time the hermit crabs do not have such good luck. Therefore, the hermit crab will take the initiative to attack the conch, kill it, eat the soft flesh, and clean the shell, so as to move into the new house, living in the armor that the enemy who died under his mouth was used to protect himself.
A hermit crab that is changing its hull
In the life of the hermit crab, there is also an interesting phenomenon of "collective house change", which can be called a large-scale "housing transaction site".
Because suitable shells are not so easy to find, sometimes the hermit crabs will gather together and line up in order from largest to smallest, moving one by one into the empty houses of the previous hermit crabs.
Hermit crabs gathered together to change their shells en masse
It is worth mentioning that the hermit crab also has a symbiotic relationship with the anemone.
Hermit crab under the anemone
Hermit crabs will move poisonous anemones to their "houses" to protect themselves from attacks from marine life such as octopuses, while hermit crabs will carry hard-to-move anemones, giving them more opportunities to forage and food, while avoiding being buried by the gravel on the seabed, the corpses of other creatures, and their own excrement. The hermit crab will even pack the anemones away when they move, and this dual defense gives the hermit crab a full sense of security.