Longevity, part 2 (long lifespans anecdotes...)

[MudCrabDude]

This is a "sort of an update" to the old locked longevity thread, found here:

viewtopic.php?t=31271&postdays=0&postor ... ty&start=0

I've been trying to hunt down some known instances of crabs living for long periods around the web recently, and here's the 3 standouts I've come across.

1. We'll start off with the current known record of about 30 + years, the two crabs of Carol Ann Ormes, as also seen in the aforementioned thread, but now in an online news article posted back in 2005 -

http://www.shellpoint.org/news/2005/070105-crabs.html

by Eric Kurfess

FORT MYERS - If you wake up on the wrong side of the bed in the morning, you may feel a little crabby. Well, here at Shell Point, we were lucky enough to find someone who wakes up on the right side of the bed with the same feeling. Carol Ann Ormes (Parkwood) is the loving caretaker of her two pet crabs. Carol has what may be the two oldest living land hermit crabs in the world. Jonathan Livingston Crab and Crab Kate will turn 29 years old in August, far surpassing the life span of your average land hermit crab. And Carol should know- her online photo gallery is one of the top links from the unofficial crab website, CrabStreetJournal.com.

2. "We know of a hermit that lived to be over 40 years old in Ft. Lauderdale." This is taken from this website:

http://www.seashellshop.com/funstories/ ... bs6.html#2

They also have posted pics of a "20 year old crab"

http://www.seashellshop.com/funstories/ ... abs11.html

While I'm not likely to patronize the shop, or follow some of their advice, the mentions of longevity are something to hear at least.






3. Lastly, I came across this online pdf:

http://si-pddr.si.edu/dspace/bitstream/ ... e,_Jr..pdf

REMARKS ON THE LIFE AND WORKS OF FENNER A. CHACE, JR.
(1908-2004), WITH A LIST OF HIS TAXA AND COMPLETE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BY
RAFAEL LEMAITREI

Ok, I looked up the name as he is most referenced in my old land hermit crab care books from the late 70's which were still sold by the late 80's, with little or no revisions. Here's a little background -

Fenner A. Chace, Jr. was officially a Zoologist Emeritus in the Department of
Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,
when he died peacefully on Sunday, May 30, 2004, at his home in Chevy
Chase, Maryland, a suburb of Washington D.C. He was 95, and was survived by
his wife of 69 years, Janice Dexter Grinnell...During his long career he produced 94 scientific works (see bibliography) furthering
our knowledge of decapod crustaceans in general, and of caridean shrimps in
particular...

And this is what I knew initially from the old books:

He kept a male specimen of Coenobita clypeatus on his desk for 11 years on a diet chiefly of fresh lettuce, an event that lead to a note on the longevity of this West Indian terrestrial hermit crab (Chace, 1972b).

And here was I didn't know from the old books, and just found out:

It was left unrecorded in the annals of science that after the death of that male C. clypeatus, Fenner kept another specimen of that same species under the same conditions for well over 25 years.

And this I thought was cute:

Regarding the study of hermit crabs, and how difficult they were to investigate taxonomically, Fenner once said in a letter to R A. McLaughlin: "I shall never understand why anyone wants to study these asymmetrical beasts that refuse to recline properly on demand and that vary to such an extreme that definition of specific characters is a ouija-board activity but Fm mighty glad that someone does." And in a letter to Mrs. S. K. Gerhardt, a pet hermit crab aficionado, when she asked for the name of his pet hermit crab, he answered: "The individual who shares my desk has remained nameless for about 25 years and will probably remain incognito at least as long as it continues to conceal it's[gender]."

It's also interesting to note that in the above mentioned 11-year old crab that the crab never "grew to more than half the adult size" according to Mervin F. Roberts' All about Land Hermit Crabs book. Probably due to the diet, I am assuming.........though it is interesting to note that he kept these crabs solo, it seems.


And some of the most noteworthy HCA longevity stories I've heard, from threads long since lost or deleted, were the crabs from Flightresponse (a C. clypeatus, I think) and Tonycoenobita's female ruggie who were noted to have lived 8 years back in 2008, so presumably they are going on 10 years this year.

Feel free to post some of your longevity records as well.

[wodesorel]

Here's another story on Carol that was from 2008:

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/072508 ... 8524.shtml

[MudCrabDude]

Here's another story on Carol that was from 2008:

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/072508 ... 8524.shtml

Ormes is a bit of a local celebrity - "The crabby lady, they call me" - although not everyone is clear on the source of her fame: at a local restaurant recently, "someone asked, how are your snails?"

[framptonbmx]

I think this is very interesting and I hope I'm not hi-jacking, but I was reading the original thread from a while back and it seemed like the majority of crabbers were maxing out at 3 years for a crab's lifespan back then. We've discovered a whole lot of important information since then. I'd be interested to hear how old everybody's oldest crabs are. I'll start. I bought 6 tiny Purple Pinchers back in October of '04. Since then I only lost one of those original guys and it was due to a bad moult early in my crabbing career back when I was feeding commercial food exclusively. My other 5 are going strong. That makes them more than 5 years old.

[CallaLily]

I'd be interested to hear how old everybody's oldest crabs are.

I've only been crabbing for 1 year and 7 months. Favre was our first crab and he is alive and well. I've only had one death so far, an escapee who we found dead 6 months later.

[MudCrabDude]

Prior to joining the HCA in 2007, I think my longest lived crabs were about less than 2 years, but generally they shrink after every molt and in the last months of their lives they are pretty inactive.

Currently, my longest lived crab after joining the HCA is going on 3 years this coming June but the real difference is that I can at least see growth in my latest crabs! ...well, at least the current survivors I have who have not succumbed to "accidents" such as past tank floodings or being cooked by UTH or being assaulted by Bully, my most aggressive clypeatus.

[wodesorel]

Someone just posted this on craiglist:

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/for/1621011187.html

"My 17-year old hermit crab recently died and I have many supplies. New gravel, 3 types of food, shells, coral, and choya wood. Also, care manuals, if needed (and tips on how to keep a hermit crab for many years)! "


Maybe there are more long-lived crabs out there but people haven't known to find us?

[SebbyCrab]

There's a girl who brings her biggest guy into hobby lobby to shell shop. She's had him for 25 years.

[MudCrabDude]

Cool

[tlivs]

Someone just posted this on craiglist:

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/for/1621011187.html

"My 17-year old hermit crab recently died and I have many supplies. New gravel, 3 types of food, shells, coral, and choya wood. Also, care manuals, if needed (and tips on how to keep a hermit crab for many years)! "


Maybe there are more long-lived crabs out there but people haven't known to find us?

gravel? packaged food?
and this crab lived 17 years? thats really odd

[MudCrabDude]

I just found someone from arachnoboards who's showing pics of their pet land hermit crabs (C. clypeatus and C. compressus) and claiming that the oldest ones are about 10 years old at least and are mostly, if not all, adoptees to boot.

[JediMasterThrash]

Sometimes it may be ambiguous if they are listing the crabs crabs age, or the length of time the crab has been in captivity.

[MudCrabDude]

Sometimes it may be ambiguous if they are listing the crabs crabs age, or the length of time the crab has been in captivity.

Yup, there is always that possibility. (I'm looking at you, seashellshop...)
Of course, I hope to one day post on the internet boasting of my 50-years-in-captivity-old C. brevimanus............with dated photos and vids to boot...as well as my breeding records....

[kgbenson]

There is a technique used in Blue crabs to assess an individuals age. It is not something to be done on a live crab, but it might shed some light on the ages of animals that have passed away.

What hermit crabs need is a sugar daddy who would support basic science research into their ecology, physiology, pathology and husbandry techniques and so forth.

OK - anyone got lots of cash they aren't using?

Keith

[Guest]

http://marc.merlins.org/blogimg/1_Orepo ... itCrab.jpg
I have no idea how old this guy is, but you must admit... that size is pretty impressive. Even if he's had a fantastic diet and growth rate, he's still gotta be a decent age, right?
http://marc.merlins.org/blogimg/1_Orepo ... itCrab.jpg

it actually came from this shell and jumped out of it when Jennifer caught it

Poor guy! That little shell must've pinched so much! I guess he couldn't find one big enough.