HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Can the gonopores sometimes be small and not fully big)

Yes. In smaller crabs especially they may not be very obvious.

It is also possible for a crab to only have one gonopore, and there have been many cases where it seems like they can lose or gain them after a molt.

Okay thankyou (:

wodesorel wrote:Yes. In smaller crabs especially they may not be very obvious.

It is also possible for a crab to only have one gonopore, and there have been many cases where it seems like they can lose or gain them after a molt.

Ohhh that is weeeeeird...by lose them do you mean they just lose the actual gonopores? Or are no longer female? I'm confused crabs are so weird!

We don't know for sure in a particular crab if it is a molting glitch or a gender change or just evidence of them being intersexed.

There are research papers that show that hermits have a surprisingly high rate of being intersex in the wild, which can display as one, all, or nothing on the gonopores. They also state that it is known that gonopores can close after molting buy it is unknown as to how or why, or if those crabs could also be intersexed.

I had a crab I swear had a gender swap, as have several other keepers in both directions. It's so hard to spot gonopores and with multiple crabs it is hard to always be sure it is the same crab, so it always feels like a mystery.

Internal organs themselves should not change with a molt, but that is not something we can easily look at.

wodesorel wrote:We don't know for sure in a particular crab if it is a molting glitch or a gender change or just evidence of them being intersexed.

There are research papers that show that hermits have a surprisingly high rate of being intersex in the wild, which can display as one, all, or nothing on the gonopores. They also state that it is known that gonopores can close after molting buy it is unknown as to how or why, or if those crabs could also be intersexed.

I had a crab I swear had a gender swap, as have several other keepers in both directions. It's so hard to spot gonopores and with multiple crabs it is hard to always be sure it is the same crab, so it always feels like a mystery.

Internal organs themselves should not change with a molt, but that is not something we can easily look at.

Wow that is really interesting! Thanks for the info!
I guess it does kinda make sense that they could be swapping gender cuz a lot of other sea creatures and fish have been known to do it...That is really cool!