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Coenobita sp.
A hermit crab. It may be Coenobita sp. 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. 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). The tip of the hermit crab's abdomen is adapted to clasp strongly onto the columella of the snail shell. As the hermit crab grows in size, it has to find a larger shell and abandon the previous one. This habit of living in a second hand shell gives rise to the popular name "hermit crab", by analogy to a hermit who lives alone. Several hermit crab species, both terrestrial and marine, use "vacancy chains" to find new shells: when a new, bigger shell becomes available, hermit crabs gather around it and form a kind of queue from largest to smallest. When the largest crab moves into the new shell, the second biggest crab moves into the newly vacated shell, thereby making its previous shell available to the third crab, and so on. Most species are aquatic and live in varying depths of saltwater, 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. A few species do not use a "mobile home" and inhabit immobile structures left by polychaete worms, vermetid gastropods, corals and sponges. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit_crab...
Secondary coastal zone forest edge, near open flat mineral sands ocean beach. The crab was originally nestled in a Pandanus sp. tree about a meter from the ground.
I moved the crab to a nearby driftwood log to take advantage of the better light and then let it be...
Thanks Ashish for the family suggestion, and thanks Gerardo for the species suggestion. The range includes "southwest Pacific" so I suppose that would take in northern Papua. Indonesia is a vast archipelago. Perhaps it is possible to ID the hermit crab with shell on. I'll tentatively go with the genus and will certainly keep this species in mind as I look further into it. "There are many ways to tell the species of your hermit crab. Eyes, claws, antennae, shields and legs are probably the most common. Looking at all of them together is obviously the most accurate way to tell." Again thanks! Thanks Jolly for your compliment!
I´m pretty sure is a common Indonesian hermit Crab
Coenobita brevimanus check this one Scott!
http://coenobitaspecies.com/brevimanus.h...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coenobita_b...
May be in Coenobitidae family.
and this site may help you..
http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/v...
Seen in drawing look alike your...
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/marine-...
Thanks for your suggestion, but please note that the common name you suggest was already in use for this spotting. Please use suggestions to provide a different common and or scientific name for a spotting species. Thanks
Look to be one of following Genus...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coenobita
Hi Frazier... Where find this Hermit crab..there is rich bio diversity of coast line... Hope you get more spotting around there...!!
Great spotting...!!