Hermit Crab

Description:

Most species have long, spirally curved abdomens, which are soft, unlike the hard, calcified abdomens seen in related crustaceans. The vulnerable abdomen is protected from predators by a salvaged empty seashell carried by the hermit crab, into which its whole body can retract.[3] Most frequently, hermit crabs use the shells of sea snails (although the shells of bivalves and scaphopods and even hollow pieces of wood and stone are used by some species).[4] The tip of the hermit crab's abdomen is adapted to clasp strongly onto the columella of the snail shell.[5] Most species are aquatic and live in varying depths of salt water, from shallow reefs and shorelines to deep sea bottoms. Tropical areas host some terrestrial species, though even those have aquatic larvae and therefore need access to water for reproduction. Most hermit crabs are nocturnal. A few species do not use a "mobile home" and inhabit immobile structures left by polychaete worms, vermetid gastropods, corals, and sponges.

Habitat:

It extends around most of the globe. It usually lives in waters of the American and European continents. In America it is distributed from Alaska to Baja California in Mexico and from the Bering Strait to the north of Japan. Also it distributed in the Mediterranean Sea and the Baltic Sea . Its habitat in the waters are reefs , rocky areas and sand. On land but prefer to live under rocks near the coast . Typically they enjoy tropical environments .