Hermit crab comes out of it's shell

These are pics of a hermit crab (Dardanus megistos) removed from its shell.

The tail section on these is very good eating; basicly the same taste as a prawn or lobster and can get very big as a full sized adult.

This particular hermit crab is very common in the south east and most areas of the pacific as well.
The other very common hermit here is the yellow claw variety of which is normally quiet small in comparison and if no shells are provided to up size to they are a good addition to the tank.

This red hermit is a very good predator especially at night in the aquarium where they will hunt unsuspecting marine life by following the scent given off by their anal area and literally rip their insides out through the anal passage if they can grab them.

The yellow ones that are very common at low tide are the algae eaters more so and will clean your tank of red algae and hair algae at the small stage of growth leaving your tank quite clean.

This is the face of the Ardanus megistus, so to speak.




These are just general pics of the hermit crab.

Notice the different sized front claws, this means its diet was possibly deficient during the time till the next shell shed or most likely it lost its nipper in a fight quite close to the shed and didn’t have enough time to reproduce a new nipper with in its body for the next shed.





This section of it is how it holds on with in the shell it has made its home.

hi seafan - cool - pics -- .------ i have never seen a hermit crab out of its shell before -------- he has striking colours and markings . ------ interesting face ! .
actually this may sound like a silly question ! no worries, as i have no idea about crabs as such .. i thought a hermit crab would need a shell to upsize too for its protection in a tank ? would it not leave it vulnerable to predators without that. ... ?

Yes thats right they do need to up size or die in an a aquarium normally.

There are far prettier hermits than these,but these are very common.

This one was extracted from it's pretty shell for my other half and than it became fish food,the baby clown triggor i kept had a big smile when i started to feed it to it,it should last a few weeks from the freezer.

You should always freeze them alive,its the well known humain way to kill anything.

Triggors love crabs in their diet.

You can keep a hermit this way if no hard beaked or hard mouthed marine fish are in the aquarium with them,i kept one for nearly a year like this as it was just in the tube with breeding tube worms on raised levels where it could not get to them and the food the tube worms got it ate the left over fine particles.

If it was bigger i would have eatern it,the tail is virtual lobster,they are very nice,a little tough but just like a high quality lobster,but exactly like mantas shrimp in its taste.

The very pale foot long plus mantas shrimp we catch up here that they export are the same taste.

To get them out alive you sit the shell point first down just slightly in recently boiling water and as the shell heats it comes out,just make sure it does not end up in the hot water. or it's ready to eat in 1 minute.