In this short video you can see an unusual grouping of hermit crabs Clibanarius erythropus. The video was made at the end of July. This period of summer coincides with the reproduction period of these unique marine crabs ...
Often while snorkelling it happens to find some shells and in the Mediterranean it is easy to meet the Murex shell only that we do not always find the mollusk inside, Murex trunculus or Hexaplex trunculus, but the classic Hermit crab which has appropriated a bigger, more beautiful but above all safer house. We have probably found the Clibanarius erythropus, red-legged hermit crab, devil hermit crab or coast hermit crab, one of the most common hermit crabs in the Mediterranean but rarely of such dimensions as to be able to easily drag a shell like that of the Murex. ...
The Pagurus belongs to the Paguridae family. Hermit crabs are crustaceans with a curved and soft abdomen. It lives in empty shells of gastropods on which it sometimes attacks sponges or poisonous actinias to camouflage and defend itself. In case of danger it can withdraw completely inside the shell. The end of the tail of the hermit crab is suitable for strongly grasping the shell it always carries with it. When it grows and the size of the shell is no longer suitable is search for a new shell to protect yourself. In the video we see a hermit crab that has taken possession of the shell of the sea snail Phalium glaucum, a marine gastropod mollusc of the Cassidae family