Caribbean Hermit Crab
Coenobita clypeatus
Caribbean Hermit Crab
Coenobita clypeatus
This species is also commonly known as the soldier crab, the West Atlantic crab, the tree crab, or the purple pincher due to its distinctive purple claw. Typically, the Caribbean hermit crab left claw is larger in size than its right claw and is purple in color.
These are land hermit crabs that live in coastal tropical regions but require access to the ocean to breed and wet their gills.
Adults burrow and hide under the roots of large trees, and can be found a considerable distance inland. As with other terrestrial crabs, they use modified gills to breathe air. Their shells help maintain the humidity necessary for gas exchange to function.
Caribbean hermit crabs are both herbivorous and scavengers. In the wild, C. clypeatus feeds on animal and plant remains, overripe fruit, and faeces of other animals
They are social creatures that forage together and use empty mollusc shells to protect their soft, unarmored abdomens.
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Family: Coenobitidae
Genus: Coenobita
Binomial name: Coenobita clypeatus
Coenobita clypeatus
This species is also commonly known as the soldier crab, the West Atlantic crab, the tree crab, or the purple pincher due to its distinctive purple claw. Typically, the Caribbean hermit crab left claw is larger in size than its right claw and is purple in color.
These are land hermit crabs that live in coastal tropical regions but require access to the ocean to breed and wet their gills.
Adults burrow and hide under the roots of large trees, and can be found a considerable distance inland. As with other terrestrial crabs, they use modified gills to breathe air. Their shells help maintain the humidity necessary for gas exchange to function.
Caribbean hermit crabs are both herbivorous and scavengers. In the wild, C. clypeatus feeds on animal and plant remains, overripe fruit, and faeces of other animals
They are social creatures that forage together and use empty mollusc shells to protect their soft, unarmored abdomens.
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Family: Coenobitidae
Genus: Coenobita
Binomial name: Coenobita clypeatus
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