#6 Hermit Crab

#6 Hermit Crab

Common Name: Hermit Crab

Description:

- External skeleton
-Soft-bodied

-Color: the shell was white/ light blue

-Bilateral Symmetry

-Contain ten jointed legs, usually the front two are different sizes. The left (large) claw is used for defense, while the right (small) claw is used for scooping food and water. 

-Two pairs of antennae

-Two compound eyes at the end of stalks

-Breath through modified gills

-Small sized crustacean

-Hermit Crabs contain long, soft, spirally curved abdomens, which are protected from predators by an empty shell.

-As a Hermit Crab grows in size, it must find a larger shell and abandon the old one.

-Hermit Crabs grow by shedding their exoskeletons and growing a new one (molting). This happens about once a year (smaller crabs may molt more often).

-Hermit crabs kept together may fight or kill, to gain the shell they prefer.

Taxonomy:

-Kingdom: Animalia

-Phylum: Arthropoda

-Subphylum: Crustacea

-Class: Malacostraca

-Order: Decapoda

-Suborder: Pleocyemata

-Family: Paguroidea

Ecology: 

-Hermit crabs will keep a tank free of algae, food debris, dead fish and other organic matter.

-Sea anemones protect the Hermit crabs (under water) by extending its tentacles for protection.

-Hermit crabs are omnivorous animals, they eat small fish, worms, and plankton.

-Predators of Hermit crabs are fish, sharks, and cuttlefish.

-Average lifespan: 1-10 years