Go-To Shell: 7 Amazingly Resourceful Hermit Crabs

Hermit Crabby Cover Girl

“Does this cosmetics jar make my claws look fat?” Not at all, and we’d say the effect isn’t jarring in the least. Photographer B. Tanaka captured this image of a purple hermit crab and its adapted cosmetics jar “shell” on the beachfront near Jashiki, located in the northern part of Japan’s Okinawa prefecture. There appear to be several other hermit crabs lugging more traditional seashell homes nearby… will they let the cosmetic-politan crab join in any hermit crab games?

Ahoy Cap’n!

Looks like the above hermit crab from Quepos, on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, will be shopping for a new shell (or something similarly shell-like) sometime soon! Can it acquire something as sweet & spiffy as this translucent plastic bottle or can cap, though? Plastic does have certain attributes hermit crabs might appreciate – this cap is both ruggedly durable and compared to a discarded seashell it’s quite a bit lighter. A valid conundrum to consider, especially if you’re carrying your house on your back 24-7! Flickr member Pavel Kirillov snapped the savvy crustacean in July of 2013.

New Hermit Crab in the Blok

Now here’s one clever hermit crab: it’s got a room to rent! We can’t imagine having a closer roommate, however, and you can be sure of an argument every time it’s time to travel. Speaking of travel, this short video from YouTube’r Albizu Garcia features a Mega Blok-toting hermit crab scuttling along the beach in beautiful Puerto Rico. Yeah, one more reason NOT to walk barefoot on the beach unless you enjoy shouting “LEGO my foot!”

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All images in this article have been graciously made available by the individually-attributed photographers under a Creative Commons international license.



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