Coenobita cavipes is a species of land hermit crab native to the eastern parts of Africa, the Philippines, China, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Polynesia, and Micronesia.
They are found in the inland area of forests and only go to the beach for mating. As with other land hermit crabs they are omnivorous scavengers but C. cavipes mainly eat fruit.
The first set of antennae are colored black and the second set red. They also have black hair, white bumps, and a stripe across the large pincer. Their coloring can be orange to dark brown. They have a tendency to moult more often than other crabs. They can be 30mm in length. Their eyestalks are black and elgonated. The tip of their big claw tends to be white. Their walking legs are slim and the third walking leg us usally very long and slim. Their abdomens are quite long and slender.
They generally give preference to turbo, tonna, and achitina fulica shells.
Coenobita brevimanus is a species of land hermit crab native to the east coast of Africa and the south west Pacific Ocean. Adults of this species can be larger than any other species from the genus Coenobita and only Birgus latro is larger in the family Coenobitidae.
The strawberry land hermit crab (Coenobita perlatus) is a species of terrestrial hermit crab native to the Indo-Pacific region, specifically Madagascar, Japan, and Australia and in other areas around the Red Sea and the Pacific. They like a humidity level of about 80 percet and a temperature of the same number.
They like turbo shells and tonna shells.
Coenobita perlatus have pronounced striations (stitch marks) on their large pincer (about 4-7 of them) in a pattern similar to Coenobita rugosus and to a lesser extent Coenobita compressus. They are noted for their bright red colouring and white granual markings. They can be 18mm in length. When they are babies, they are all white in color and their antennas are red. As they grow and molt, their orange and red coloring appears. During their younger years, they are more of a pale red or orange color. As adults, they are very red. Their eyestalks are the same color as their body and are thick. Their walking legs are thick and strong for climbing.
In Australia they are restricted to islands and coral cays of the Great Barrier Reef where they have been found to scavenge on sea terns, tortoise eggs and other crabs.
Coenobita rugosus (colloquially referred to as ruggie) is a species of land hermit crab native to Australia and the east African coast to the south west Pacific.[1] C. rugosus has four walking legs, a small pincer, a large pincer, and antennae. When threatened C. rugosus is able to make a 'chirping' sound by rubbing its large pincer against its shell as a stridatory aparatus. [2]
C. rugosus vary in color depending on nutritional intake and common colors include green, brown and tan; but black, white, pink, and blue have also been observed. They can be differentiated from other species of land hermit crabs by the pronounced striations (stitch marks) on their large pincer. Coenobita compressus and Coenobita perlatus also possess these striations to a lesser extent but can easily be distinguished from C. rugosus by size and color; especially in the case of the C. perlatus which is a striking red color as an adult.
They can be 15mm in length and their eyestalks are sandy in color and may have a brown stripe on the bottom of them. The bottom pair of the second antena are light orange in color. Their big claw has 7 ridges on the upper part and their is usually hair on the inside of both claws. On the last pair of walking legs, on the second segment, it is flattened and the color is lighter. The abdomen is short and fat.
As with other species of land hermit crabs C. rugosus are scavengers and will consume plants, dead fish, fruit and other detritus.
Coenobita purpureus (colloquially referred to as the purple land hermit crab) is a species of land hermit crab native to Japan.
Their coloration is usually purple, blue, purple-blue, or purple-red although as young crabs they are colored white. Their eyestalks are long and their eyes are oval in shape. The joints of their pincers and walking legs are yellow and the abdomen is short and fat. They can be 17mm in length. They are considered a threatened species, close to being endangered.
They live in the forest near the coast and can be found near the beach in the beginning of summer and in autumn
Coenobita violascens is a species of land hermit crab native to Japan. It is also found on various other Pacific islands. This species of land hermit crabs is sometimes confused with Coenobita cavipes due to their similar appearance.
C. violascens is orange as a juvenile and turns dark blue, purple, or green-tinged black in adulthood. It reaches 30 millimeters in length when mature. It has long, thick eye-stalks, and its eyes are slim and oval in shape. Its large claw is oblong and speckled with light colored bumps. The crab tends to choose shells that are long in shape.
The Caribbean hermit crab (Coenobita clypeatus), also known as the tree-climbing crab, the soldier crab, and the purple pincher, is a species of hermit crab commonly sold in the United States. The last of its common names is due to their distinctive purple claw. Coenobita clypeatus is a member of the phylum Arthropoda and the class Malacostraca. They can be 17mm in length. They can be from a pale red to a dark brown or burgundy in color. The eyestalks are round and are white, with a black or brown stripe on the bottom. Their eyes are oval in shape. They have four walking legs, four tiny legs to hold the shell in place, a small pincher, a large purple pincher, and four antennae. Their abdomen is short and fat. The shell of the hermit crab is sometimes that of land snails when it is young, and usually marine snails. Once deceased, the snail body decomposes and the empty shell eventually washes onto shore. The hermit crab can then occupy the shell. Shell switching is not uncommon, and necessary as the crab grows.
Coenobita clypeatus along with all species of hermit crabs grow through a process called molting where the exoskeleton of the animal is shed and a new, soft exoskeleton is exposed from beneath. Over a period of several days, the new exoskeleton hardens and the old, shed exoskeleton is eaten by the hermit crab, in order to regain the calcium.
They come from the Arabian Sea, the Caribbean Sea, Southern Florida, Venezuala, and the Bermuda Islands. They live near the inland areas and like to hide in caves or the roots of a tree. They like a humidity level between 70 and 78 percent, and a temperature of 75 degrees fahrenheit.
They tend to give preference to turbo, cancellaria, tonna, snail, and pica shells.
The Australian land hermit crab (Coenobita variabilis) is one of two terrestrial hermit crab species native to Australia and is found in northern parts of Australia including northern Western Australia, Northern Territory and northern Queensland. The other terrestrial species is the strawberry land hermit crab (C. perlatus) which is reportedly restricted to the islands and coral cays of the Great Barrier Reef, north-eastern Australia.
The Ecuadorian hermit crab (Coenobita compressus) also known as the Pacific hermit crab is a species of land hermit crab commonly sold in the United States as a pet, along with the Caribbean hermit crab (Coenobita clypeatus).
Coenobita compressus is a member of the phylum Arthropoda and the class Crustacea. They can be up to 12mm in length and are thought to be one the smallest species of land hermit crabs. They have four walking legs, a small pincer, a large pincer, and antennae. Many people who keep these crabs as pets notice that Ecuadorians can be relatively fast walkers, more so than the Caribbean hermit crab. Also, the eyes of Ecuadorians are more oval-shaped when compared to the round eyes of Caribbean hermit crabs and are thick. Their big claw has 4-5 small ridges on the upper part. The tips of the second pair of walking legs are darker than the rest of the leg. The abdomen is short and fat.
Ecuadorian hermit crabs vary greatly in color. There are some that are bright yellow, dark grey, or orange. More often they are a tan color, but sometimes have a bluish or greenish tint to their bodies or the insides of their legs.
They tend to like nerite shells, deshayes shells, babylonia shells, valencienne shells, and other shells with a wider mouth.
Native to Ecuador and Chile, these hermit crabs live on the Pacific seashore around the tidal pools and high-tide zone. Their bodies have adapted to this seashore existence by becoming able to metabolize the salt in seawater. In fact, they have adapted so well to their environment that they actually need seawater to live. In the wild, Ecuadorian hermit crabs are scavengers, like most other hermit crabs. They will consume seaweed, dead fish and other detritus that washes up on the shore. A study done with Coenobita compressus [1] showed that the land hermit crabs prefer the odours of foods that they have not recently eaten. The crabs that were exposed to one food for at least 9 h preferred foods having other odours for the next 6 h. This short-term avoidance of food (like human beings who get "bored" of the same meals over and over again) that compels the crabs to seek out a wider range of food might be advantageous to the crab, possibly through the consumption of a more nutritionally balanced diet.
