HCA: Hermit Crab Association

The rain died down. I got a lot of bug bites. So first of all, this is the beach where they are. Just imagine the tide is out.












PEEK!! So cute.






Sometimes I find sculpins and gunnels under the rocks.

Other findings

Spawn until you die.

Thanks to snails, our crabs have shells.

I don't know much about MHC. why are they so dark. they look like they are covered in oil.

They aren't covered in anything. They are just that dark. Their colors go from black, to brown, orange, tan, green, blue...yeah. But they are always dark like that. There are two species.

lonewolf wrote:I don't know much about MHC. why are they so dark. they look like they are covered in oil.

Camouflage I bet

very cute! you have some pics of hermits with the zebra stripes, and I'e got one of them, named Corinth. The completely black ones are some dardanus species.

Caroline

Wow! There's SO MANY of them!! I have to go way out when the tides out to see a couple teeny weeny MHCs, ours are yellow/light brown I love the guy with the striped turbo It looks like some of the fancy clothes we buy for our LHC
I love the little guy peeking out
Heh, they wear shells kinda like Es, I geuss it's not just Es that are into clothes that don't fit

I don't think these guys are doing it by choice

Actually, I read that they do prefer shells that just cover their bum. I almost never see larger shells on them.

Oh, and they aren't turbos, they are periwinkles!! Such a cute word, lol. Mostly Sitka Periwinkles. But they do look exactly like tiny turbos.

Ooh, so cute It suits them! I'm pretty sure they're doing it by choise, MHCs don't seem to hide or stay in their shells as much, it appears to just be to cover their soft abdomens not to hide in (from what I've seen on my local ones)

I meant the availability of shells prevents them from being too picky, but I guess they do select from a specific range. I know my crabs all had really bad shells and now they are all super picky. Funny how quickly they become spoiled brats, just like my kids!