Bering Hermit Crab

Author: Avria Chrystall & Joy Trinh-Day

Scientific Name: Pagurus beringanus

Size Range: Bering Hermit Crabs grow to about an average of 2.5 inches. (6.4 cm)

Identifying Features:  Bering hermit crabs have 10 legs, however some of them aren’t fully developed and remain inside of their shell.   Three pairs of legs remain outside of the shell and the front two in claws. Its legs are often grey, brown and/or green. You can identify them by the red and occasionally white bands around their legs and joints.

Habitat:  The Bering Hermit Crabs like to live in partially protected waters particularly around rock formations and other rocky areas. They live around 17 meters from sea level and tend to live in areas that remain underwater even at low tide.

Food:  Bering Hermit Crabs are omnivorous scavengers. Their diet relies on what is available and where they live. They will eat algae and any other particles of food that they can find.

Predators:  Hermit crabs are preyed upon by many fish including gunnels, pricklebacks and rockfish as well as sea stars, larger crabs, and birds such as gulls and crows.

Life Cycle:  After meeting and deciding to mate, both the male and female crabs arise slightly from their shells.  The male passes sperm to the female and up to several thousand eggs will be fertilized. The eggs are carried by the female protected in her shell until they hatch.  They become planktonic and will pass through the stages from egg to zoea to megalops before settling on the ocean floor where they will begin searching for their own discarded mollusc shell.

REFERENCES:

Hermit Crab. (2008, March 19). It’s Nature. Retrieved July 27, 2024, from https://itsnature.org/sea/other/hermit-crab/

Hermit crab. (n.d.). Seattle Aquarium. Retrieved July 27, 2024, from https://www.seattleaquarium.org/animal/hermit-crab/

Tilden, Eric (1999) Life Cycle of a Hermit Crab. Retrieved June 1, 2011 from http://www.ehow.com/facts_5233557_life-cycle-hermit-crab.html

Stang, David (2009) Pagurus beringanus (Bering Hermit Crab). Retrieved June 1, 2011 from     http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/P/Pagurus_beringanus/