Ecuadorian hermit crab

Image:Coenobita compressus (group).jpg

Coenobita compressus is a member of the phylum Arthropoda and the class Malacostraca. They can be up to {{convert|12|mm|abbr=on}} in length and are thought to be one of the smallest species of land hermit crabs.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} They have four walking legs, a small pincer, a large pincer, and antennae. Their eyes are more oval-shaped when compared to the round eyes of Caribbean hermit crabs and are thicker. Their big claw has four or five small ridges on the upper part. The tips of the second pair of walking legs are darker than the rest of the leg. The abdomen of the Ecuadorian hermit crab is short and fat.

Ecuadorian hermit crabs vary greatly in colour, some are bright (yellow, dark grey, or orange), but more often they are a tan colour. Sometimes, they may have a blue or green tint to their bodies or the insides of their legs. They also have comma-shaped eyes, unlike the "purple pincher" (C. clypeatus), which has dot-shaped eyes.

When choosing a shell, they tend to give preference to shells with a wide and round aperture.

Native to the Americas, these hermit crabs live on the Pacific seashore ranging from Mexico to Chile,{{Cite web |last=Hopkin |first=Karen |title=Intimate Hermit Crab Keeps Shell On |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/intimate-hermit-crab-keeps-shell-on/ |access-date=2022-06-05 |website=Scientific American |language=en}} and tend to gather around tidal pools and high-tide zone. Their bodies have adapted to this seashore existence, and in captivity, they require access to seawater, as they must metabolize the salt in it and bathe in it to maintain gill moisture. Failure to provide access to seawater (real or artificial) will result in death.

Like most hermit crabs, they are scavengers and consume seaweed, dead fish, and other detritus that washes up on the shore.

Coenobita compressus prefers the odors of foods that they have not recently eaten.{{cite journal |author=Robert W. Thacker |year=1998 |title=Avoidance of recently eaten foods by land hermit crabs, Coenobita compressus |journal=Animal Behaviour |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=485–496 |pmid=9480714 |doi=10.1006/anbe.1997.0621|s2cid=23901241 }} Hermit crabs exposed to one food for at least 9 hours preferred foods having other odors for the next 6 hours. This short-term avoidance of food (like human beings who get bored with the same meals over and over again) compels the crabs to seek out a wider range of food. This might be advantageous to the crabs, possibly through the consumption of a more nutritionally balanced diet. Ecuadorian hermit crabs can make a chirping sound to communicate with each other.

Hermit crabs overall were once seen as a "throwaway pet" that would live only a few months, but species such as C. clypeatus have a 23-year lifespan if properly treated{{Citation | author = Pet Smart Veterinarians | title = Land Hermit Crab Care Guide | publisher = Pet Smart | year = 2006 | url = http://www.petsmart.com/uc/petarticles_db.jsp?ucCategory=CARE&ucTopic=FISH&ucSubTopic=CARE&ucSubTopic2=&ucContent=/articles/content/fish/care/hermit-crab/HermitCrabs.html | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110611083925/http://www.petsmart.com/uc/petarticles_db.jsp?ucCategory=CARE&ucTopic=FISH&ucSubTopic=CARE&ucSubTopic2=&ucContent=%2Farticles%2Fcontent%2Ffish%2Fcare%2Fhermit-crab%2FHermitCrabs.html | archivedate = 2011-06-11 }} and some have lived longer than 32 years.{{Citation |author-link=Linda Lombardi |first=Linda |last=Lombardi |title=Hermit crabs can be fun, long-lasting pets |publisher=The Associated Press |newspaper=The Olympian |year=2008 |url=http://www.theolympian.com/living/story/519995.html |accessdate=1 October 2008 }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Alternate Citation: {{Citation |first=Linda |last=Lombardi |title=Hermit crabs don't have to fade away; with proper care they can have long life |publisher=The Associated Press |newspaper=Amherst Daily News |date=July 22, 2008 |url=http://www.amherstdaily.com/index.cfm?sid=155348&sc=510 |accessdate=1 July 2009 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{Citation | author = Stacy | title = How old is my hermit crab? | publisher = crabstreetjournal.com | year = 2008 | url = http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modules/news/article.php?storyid=16 | accessdate = 1 August 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081211095240/http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modules/news/article.php?storyid=16 | archive-date = 11 December 2008 | url-status = dead }} Similarly, Ecuadorian hermit crabs have been known to live to over 30 years. In general, and despite their moniker, hermit crabs are social animals that do best in groups.{{cite web | author = Christa Wilkin | title = Basic crab care | year = 2004 | url = http://www.hermit-crabs.com/care.html | accessdate =1 August 2008}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101206210343/http://e-hermit-crabs.wetpaint.com/ Ecuadorian Hermit Crabs Wiki]

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Category:Hermit crabs

Category:Crustaceans of South America

Category:Crustaceans of the eastern Pacific Ocean

Category:Crustaceans described in 1836

Category:Terrestrial crustaceans