In: Biology
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The land hermit crab (Coenobita) develops a water sac inside of their shell prior to a molt. As shedding of the old exoskeleton begins, this store of water is used to expand the body to stretch and increase size before the soft exoskeleton begins to harden again We are building image galleries of specific body parts. If you have high resolution, clear photos that you would like to donate to this project please contact us via email: crabstreetjournal at gmail dot com Overview of the anatomy of a land hermit crab (Coenobita)Read More →

In: Biology
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written by Vanessa Pike- Russell 2000, updated by Stacy Griffith The life cycle of the land hermit crab is unique. It starts by the release of eggs into an ocean tide pool, where the zoea go through a series of moults and developmental stages. A baby hermit crab zoea will be a part of plankton until it grows and starts to resemble hermit crab form. Once they have developed to maturity, hermit crabs leave their watery home, making the long journey to land to find a shell for the protection of the soft abdomen Once ashore, land hermit crabs go through a metamorphosis, developing modifiedRead More →