You know what a hermit crab looks like. Those beady eyes just slightly sticking up from the shell of a snail make this critter one of the cutest animals you can find on the P.E.I. shoreline (move over, plovers).
But did you know that besides being the cutest, they’re also the coolest?
“These animals are super fascinating,” says Jeff Clements, an aquatic biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and expert on all things fly under the sea. “There’s all kinds of other super cool behaviours that they do.”
Hermit crabs are members of a group of crabs known as pagurids — animals that live in the empty shells of snails.
Island Morning5:52Hermit Crabs on PEI
If you see one on the beach, there’s a good chance you go in the other direction. CBC found out all about hermit crabs..where you’ll find them and whether or not they can hurt you!
You can find hermit crabs in many different habitats, including sandy or muddy beaches and along rocky shores, especially those that have tide pools.
“They like to stay wet…. You may see them roaming around on the dry shore, but you’re more likely to find these if you’re walking ankle-deep in water,” Clements said.
They eat pretty much anything they can get their hands — er, claws — on. That includes detritus (the poop and bits of dead body parts from other organisms; see the lugworm), plants and other animals.
“Because they’re so versatile, hermit crabs can actively predate on some animals if they can manage to capture and kill them,” Clements said.
“You’ll often find them scavenging on the carcasses of dead animals that are floating around on the bottom of the sediment there, such as crabs, and they’ll eat the bits of dead plants and animals that are floating about.”
If you come across one, you’re also likely running into a hundred of so of its best friends. Hermit crabs are pretty sociable creatures, with complex mating rituals and other social behaviours that make the animals “pretty neat,” in the words of our aquatic biologist.
So let’s talk about shells.
Are you seriously wearing that?
You can find three types of hermit crabs on P.E.I. beaches: the Acadian hermit crab, the hairy hermit crab, and the long-wristed hermit crab. They’re often found in periwinkle or moon snail shells, but they can live in many different types.
Clements said these species are difficult to tell apart, with only a few distinguishing features on their heads and claws.
Kingdom of the Tide: Hermit Crab
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Finding shelter can be difficult for the hermit crab, and sometimes it can be a downright battle!
But that doesn’t mean they’re all the same, for hermit crabs are also unwavering stylists.
“There’s always going to be hermit crabs that are in shells that they don’t like — one that’s a bit too small, one that’s a bit too big,” Clements said. “If a hermit crab comes across an empty shell, it’ll assess it by looking at it and feeling it, and if it likes that shell more than the one that it’s in, it’ll trade up.
Why do they do this? These fickle fashionistas will never be caught dead sporting a shell that’s loose-fitting, or one that’s too revealing.
“If the shell is too big, it’s heavy and it takes a lot of energy to move it around,” Clements said. “If it’s too small, it can be hard to fit into, and it can leave soft parts of the body exposed and vulnerable.”
Sometimes hermit crabs perform this clothes swap — house swap? — in pairs, Clements said. When one crab finds a bigger shell, it can give its old shell to a friend as a hand-me-down.
Jeff Clements is an aquatic biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. He’s based in Moncton, N.B. (Submitted by Jeff Clements)
“[The shells] create in some situations… a kind of chain reaction within the social group,” he said.
Other times, the switch is not that amicable.
Getting crabby
In hermit crab world, shells are such a prized commodity that they’re worth fighting to the death for.
Well, maybe not to the death. But it’s still pretty violent by hermit crab standards.
“If [a hermit crab] sees a shell that another hermit crab has, but it wants that shell, it will go over and basically knock on that shell really hard with its claws to try and get the hermit crab that’s in the shell it wants out, so it can basically steal its home,” Clements said.
Hermit crabs fight hard and often. Not just for shells, but also for other limited resources such as food and mates.
With all this competition, they have to be clever and pick their fights.
Because their body is hidden from view by their shells, hermit crabs have to gauge the size of their opponent by looking at their claws.
Common hermit crab (Pagurus bernhardus) foraging on the sea floor. (Sven-Erik Arndt/Arterra/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)
Clements said some of the smaller hermit crabs actually spend energy making their claws bigger to trick their opponent into thinking they’re big and scary. (Sure.)
And if they’re putting so much care into their outfit, why not accessorize?
“Sometimes, they’ll decorate their shelves with algae or sea anemones to camouflage or add protection.”
Be nice now
Hermit crabs, like most of the animals CBC P.E.I. has profiled on our Beach Finds series this summer, are threatened by climate change.
“They’re cold-blooded animals, which means that the temperature of their body internally is dependent on the temperature of the body outside,” Clements said. “There’s evidence that increasing temperatures can affect their physiology, and so as ocean temperatures get warmer, there’s some concern that effects may happen there.”
Because of their shell-based social behaviours, ocean acidification — which makes it hard for animals like moon snails to keep their shells — may also impact the little critters, Clements said.
This is one potential reason why we might want to leave shells on the beach. We might want to leave those resources for the hermit crabs rather than putting them on a kitchen table.— Jeff Clements
So, if you see a hermit crab, be kind.
“Hermit crabs generally are pretty harmless. If you pick them up, they’re going to retract into their shell and hide for the most part,” Clements said, though he added others may indeed try to pinch you.
“As I mentioned, shells are really, really important to hermit crabs…. This is one potential reason why we might want to leave shells on the beach. We might want to leave those resources for the hermit crabs rather than putting them on a kitchen table.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
