{"id":8638,"date":"2011-04-08T20:05:44","date_gmt":"2011-04-09T01:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=8638"},"modified":"2011-04-08T20:05:44","modified_gmt":"2011-04-09T01:05:44","slug":"return-of-the-crabby-hermit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=8638","title":{"rendered":"Return of the Crabby Hermit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Flat-Clawed Hermit Crab (Pagurus pollicaris)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The tidal flats in Sippican Harbor off Buzzards Bay warmed enough today for flat-clawed hermit crabs to become active.\u00c2\u00a0 This morning a crabby hermit scurried along the shallows at Silvershell Beach in Marion in\u00c2\u00a0a small moonsnail shell.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Flat-Clawed Hermit Crab (in Moonsnail Shell)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

These vagabond crustaceans adopt abandoned shells of snails and whelks.\u00c2\u00a0 But of course, they move quite differently than the snails and whelks who formerly occupied these shells.\u00c2\u00a0 As a consequence, a portion of its new\u00c2\u00a0home constantly drags along the tidal flats and creates a telltale “bald” or shiny spot, which can be easily spotted in the photograph\u00c2\u00a0above.\u00c2\u00a0 With the shell flipped upside down, you can see where its new home rubs against the bottom.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Besides the\u00c2\u00a0common name “Flat-Clawed Hermit Crab,” these animals\u00c2\u00a0are also called “Broad-Clawed Hermit\u00c2\u00a0Crabs.”\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Meet the Crabby Hermit<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps the flat-clawed hermit crab lacks a little something\u00c2\u00a0in the cuteness category.\u00c2\u00a0 But Turtle Journal loves these seemingly comical critters; and when you get the chance to see one outside its shell, we\u00c2\u00a0believe they\u00c2\u00a0display an adorably playful\u00c2\u00a0presence.\u00c2\u00a0 We rescued this particular hermit crab in October.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00c2\u00a0had been residing in a whelk shell that was swooped up by a gull that dropped it from considerable height just as we happened on the scene.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The force of the crash on the concrete boat ramp\u00c2\u00a0smashed the whelk shell and trapped the hermit crab inside.<\/p>\n

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Crabby Hermit Finds a New Home<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We decided to give Nature (and this crabby hermit) a helping hand by first freeing it from the crushed whelk shell, and then offering a selection of empty whelk shells for it to choose a new home.\u00c2\u00a0 The video clip above shows our crabby friend adopting its new abode.<\/p>\n

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Flat-Clawed Hermit Crab<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Today’s specimen in\u00c2\u00a0its moonsnail shell was much smaller.\u00c2\u00a0 This photograph with the barnacle in the upper left\u00c2\u00a0gives a good sense of\u00c2\u00a0the hermit crab’s\u00c2\u00a0size.<\/p>\n

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Flat-Clawed Hermit Crab with Snail Fur<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hermit crab shells provide habitat for snail fur (Hydractinia echinata<\/em>).\u00c2\u00a0 This hydroid grows in colonies on snail shells that have been taken over by hermit crabs.\u00c2\u00a0 According to Marine Life of the North Atlantic<\/strong> by Andrew J. Martinez<\/a>, “It is believed that the stinging cells of the hydroids protect the hermit crab against some predators.”\u00c2\u00a0 The image above show the polyps in full glory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Flat-Clawed Hermit Crab (Pagurus pollicaris) The tidal flats in Sippican Harbor off Buzzards Bay warmed enough today for flat-clawed hermit crabs to become active.\u00c2\u00a0 This morning a crabby hermit scurried along the shallows at Silvershell Beach in Marion in\u00c2\u00a0a small moonsnail shell.\u00c2\u00a0 Flat-Clawed Hermit Crab (in Moonsnail Shell) These vagabond crustaceans adopt abandoned shells of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[402,824],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8638"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8676,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8638\/revisions\/8676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}