陸寄居蟹網絡日誌オカヤドカリブログ

Nina Sen, Life's Little Mysteries Contributor   |   November 03, 2012 04:44am ET

University of California, Berkeley, biologist Mark Laidre has discovered that terrestrial hermit crabs socialize to trade up for larger shells. Empty snail shells are rare on land, so the best hope a hermit crab has of getting a new, larger shell as it grows is to kick another crab out of its shell. According to the researchers, when three or more hermit crabs congregate they  attract dozens of other crabs eager to trade their small shells to larger ones. The hermit crabs then form a line from smallest to largest. Once a crab is wrenched from its shell, they all simultaneously move into larger shells. The smallest crab is left with the last, and often the tiniest, shell.