Only one gonopore?

[robinwhiskers]

I can't seem to get a straight answer on this...every so often I like to pick my crabs and let them come out enough to wear I can see their gonopores. There's been confusion in the past but now it's very clear to me Lola and Harley are females. However, Brigadier only has one gonopore. I'm not sure if "he" or "she" is the right word to call Brig! Does anyone know what on earth one gonopore means?

[LadyJinglyJones]

So this is a thing that happens.

Crabs can be intersexed, as well as having gonopores appear later as they grow. Brig may be female. Or not.

If you search "intersexed" you can find a thread with a link to a neat scientific paper about the role of intersexed hermits (I think it may have been C. brevimannus specifically -but don't quote me) in wild breeding populations. It's an interesting read & I recommend it.

As for Brigadier... I sincerely doubt that any crab has much in the way of a gender identity , so you may call him/her/them whatever you please. Crabs have no complaints so long as they're fed!

[wodesorel]

The gonopores can also come and go with molting on some crabs, making it even weirder. If you ever catch them during a shell change, the presence or absence of pleopods would be a better indicator.

[mlakers]

Yeah, this topic is super interesting! And there's really no reliable way to study changing sex in wild hermit crabs, given that researchers can't accurately "tag" an individual for study that digs underground, sheds its exoskeleton, changes shells, walks for miles, climbs trees, and is more active at night. How do you mark such a creature for long-term study in a wild environment? Paint the shell? They change shells. Tag their bodies? They change with every molt--sometimes changing color, regenerating lost limbs, coming up looking very different...so fascinating.

I have seven PPs and when I first sexed them, their sexes were pretty evenly split: four females and three males. Now I have one male and six females, and the one male used to be my largest female. Crazy! My colony is behaving more like a harem. All the females had eggs last summer, and the one male fertilized them all. The advantage to having only seven crabs of varied sizes is that I can keep really close tabs on their behavior both as individuals and as a colony, and I find it all super interesting.

[AwesomeHermit]

Yeah, this topic is super interesting! And there's really no reliable way to study changing sex in wild hermit crabs, given that researchers can't accurately "tag" an individual for study that digs underground, sheds its exoskeleton, changes shells, walks for miles, climbs trees, and is more active at night. How do you mark such a creature for long-term study in a wild environment? Paint the shell? They change shells. Tag their bodies? They change with every molt--sometimes changing color, regenerating lost limbs, coming up looking very different...so fascinating.

I have seven PPs and when I first sexed them, their sexes were pretty evenly split: four females and three males. Now I have one male and six females, and the one male used to be my largest female. Crazy! My colony is behaving more like a harem. All the females had eggs last summer, and the one male fertilized them all. The advantage to having only seven crabs of varied sizes is that I can keep really close tabs on their behavior both as individuals and as a colony, and I find it all super interesting.

Oh. My crabs were not split lol. I have all 4 females, and since I named 1 a male before I knew she was a female, why not just give them names not caring on their gender? LOL

[soilentgringa]

We used to just name them whatever we felt like, now we have so many that only some have names. The straws and e's have names and our oldest PP's. I couldn't care less about gendered names, tbh. It's a crab and they can change their sex and be intersex so what's the point in stressing over it?

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[LadyJinglyJones]

Not gonna lie... I've fantasised about electronically tagging hermits... maybe a chip snugged in just below the gastric mill would work.... but not being an endless font of money... eh, it'll have to wait on someone else.

[soilentgringa]

Not gonna lie... I've fantasised about electronically tagging hermits... maybe a chip snugged in just below the gastric mill would work.... but not being an endless font of money... eh, it'll have to wait of someone else.

That would be interesting if it were able to be done without harming them.

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[soilentgringa]

Or even a tiny one in the gills? Like where gill mites would attach?

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[LadyJinglyJones]

Or even a tiny one in the gills? Like where gill mites would attach?

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I feel like when you look at a diagram of the brachial chamber (i.e. where the gills are at) there isn't a lot of free real estate.... whereas, as least when I look at an aquatic hermit diagram (and I'm really just talking diagrams here, so the space involved may be misrepresented...), there's a place that looks pretty open below the gastric mill, near the foregut region... if a chip could be inserted in there, a crab couldn't shed it, I don't think.

[wodesorel]

There would be room on a terrestrial hermit, but I think the likelihood of physical irritation or complete rejection would be extremely high. Chipping only works in animals that have layers of dermis or where it can be glued to the outside.

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[robinwhiskers]

Tagging hermies would be cool if it was possible, but I guess they are too wild and free for us people.

[mlakers]

I love that this forum has such SMART people in charge. I learn something every time I visit.