Land+Hermit+Crabs+by+Mrs+Wilson

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Land Hermit Crabs, by Mrs Wilson
Land hermit crabs are fascinating creatures that live in and around the rocky pools near beaches, and they can also be kept as pets. Hermit crabs are mostly active at night, digging in the sand and climbing rocks and driftwood. An adult crab breathes air and drinks fresh water.
 * Introduction:**

A land hermit crab is a small crustacean, and looks a little like a tiny lobster. It has two pairs of walking legs and a pair of claws. Its torso is long, and its abdomens are tender. Hermit crabs have several parts that make up their body. They have segmented body parts and an exoskeleton. It is an arthropod (like spiders and insects). Because it breathes with gills, and has two pair of antennae in front of its mouth, it is also a crustacean (a large class of arthropods that live in, or frequently goes into, water). Instead of having a backbone or skeleton inside its body, a hermit crab has an exoskeleton. A crab’s exoskeleton does not grow as the crab grows. When a crab grows too large for its exoskeleton, the exoskeleton splits open, and the crab crawls out. This is called molting. After molting, a crab’s body is very soft. It takes up to ten days for the new exoskeleton to harden. Hermit crabs have compound eyes. This means that a hermit crab’s eye is made up of many independent light sensitive units. Instead of seeing one image like you do, a crab sees multiples of the one image. This allows the hermit crab to detect fast movements and see in a very wide angle.
 * [[image:4wminibeasts:HCdiagram1.gif width="455" height="313" align="left"]]Anatomy:**


 * [[image:4wminibeasts:HC5.jpg width="329" height="278" align="right"]]

Habitat:** In Australia, hermit crabs are found around the warm waters of Nothern Australia, particularly the Northern Territory and Western Australia. They are called hermit crabs because they like to live inside the discarded shells of other sea creatures. The crabs like a sandy, rocky environment because they like to dig and hide in the sand. Hermit crabs also like to climb over rocks, branches and plants. Because hermit crabs have gills and not lungs, they need a very moist, humid environment in which to live. Hermit crabs like to use their shell-home to carry around water to keep their gills moist.

Hermit crabs are known as the ocean's garbage cans, as they eat almost anything. Their main diet consists of seaweed, cuttlefish, driftwood, dead fish and washed up fruit including mango seeds and mangrove seed pods.
 * Diet:**

The life cycle of a hermit crab has two stages, an aquatic (water) stage and a terrestrial (land) stage. Aquatic They begin their life as part of the plankton mass in the ocean. Reproduction is by way of a mass spawning on the beach, then the eggs are carried out to sea on the tide where they grow and develop. During this juvenile stage, they have gills similar to a fish and can breathe in water. Terrestrial The crabs move onto the land after growing to around 5mm where they move into their first sea shell home. At this stage of life, their gills change slightly and must be kept moist to allow them to breathe air.
 * [[image:4wminibeasts:HC6.jpg width="300" height="265" align="left"]]Life Cycle:**

Because hermit crabs have a strong shell in which they live, they have very few predators. Hermit crabs are most vulnerable when they move from one shell to another, when the soft rear part of their body is exposed. The main predators of hermit crabs are birds and other crabs.
 * Predators:**