#marine hermit crabs | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

happycrabitat · 1 day

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Take the memory, leave the shell! Watch what happens when we return seashells to the beach & marine hermit crabs!

Seashells are so important to beaches for a whole host of reasons.

🐚Over-shelling can affect hermit crabs because it reduces the availability of suitable shells for them to inhabit. Hermit crabs rely on empty shells of other creatures for protection and shelter. When there are too few shells available, hermit crabs may be forced to inhabit inadequate shells & pollution as homes, which can hinder their growth and make them more vulnerable to predators and environmental stressors. This can ultimately impact their survival and reproductive success.

🐚Shells provide homes or attachment surfaces for algae, sea grass, sponges, coral and a host of other microorganisms.

🐚Animals such as decorator crabs and octopus use shells as camouflage and many fish use shells as hiding places to avoid predators.

🐚Shells help to stabilize beaches and anchor seagrass.

🐚Shells are used by shorebirds to build nests.

🐚When shells break down, they provide nutrients for the organisms living in the sand or for those that build their own shells. (Shells are a major source of calcium.) I’m a firm believer in when we know better, we do better. I once shelled, and then when I learned all of this, I returned all shells that were not sprayed with a clear varnish to the beach & watched the marine hermit crabs go wild changing shells that were so needed!

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bedupolker · 8 months

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Crab if you want to

#hermit crab #crab #marine life #my art #crustacean

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discovery-at-sea · 1 year

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(May 12, 2023) We are raising money for a crowd funded research project investigating the cause of blueberry hermit crabs in Okinawa, Japan using trash found on the beach as “homes” instead of natural shells. These hermit crabs are endemic to the southern islands of Japan, and they act as coastal environmental engineers. They are endangered on several islands, and we want to try and understand why they are resorting to beach trash for shells. Please consider sharing this post and donating to the project. The fundraising will be active for the next 45 days (until June 26).

You can find all project details here: https://experiment.com/projects/blueberry-hermit-crabs-with-beach-trash-homes

We suspect that areas with high rates of tourism lead to beach combers collecting natural shells leaving nothing for the hermit crabs to use. It’s possible that overfishing of turbo snails which would naturally provide shells for the crabs may also be a factor. We will survey many sites across several islands in Okinawa to try and determine a cause of this behavior.

We will be working closely with national geographic photographer Shawn Miller (photo credits above) and several researchers in Japan. Additionally, we will complete extensive beach clean ups in the areas we study. Thank you so much for reading!

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talkingperfectly-loud · 9 months

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I don’t know who needs to hear this, but DONT take conch shells or large snail shells from the ocean!!!!! If you are snorkeling, wading, scuba diving, whatever, LEAVE THE SHELLS! You may think it’s empty. It’s most likely not.

One time I, a marine biologist, found a beautiful conch shell while snorkeling. I had 2 of my professors check that it was empty (2!!!) and guess what? I still woke up the next day to a dead, stinking hermit crab that had tried to claw its way out of my drawstring bag overnight. Hermit crabs are excellent hiders. This animal died needlessly, and what for?? A pretty shell to put on my shelf?

TLDR; DONT take “empty” conch shells from the ocean. They’re not empty.

#ocean #marine life #marine biology #hermit crab #seashell #I did NOT keep the shell btw #I returned both the crab and the shell to the ocean where they belonged #it weighs on my soul to this day

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t00thpasteface · 21 days

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🐚+🦀

#i never noticed until i took these photos how BRIGHT their eyes are! such a striking blue-gray color #shebbz shoutz #shebbz irl #hermit crab #crustacean #thin striped hermit crab #beach #beach life #piratecore #mermaidcore #ocean aesthetic #marine biology

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doggiewoggiez · 1 year

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I wanted to share a video of one of my thinstripe hermits changing shells :3

#marine biology #hermit crab #thinstripe hermit #fishkeeping

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ugghouly · 7 months

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Hey tumblr I want to introduce you guys to something beautiful

crab database. hundreds of photos of crabs identified by species. I found it by accident. I know of zero other websites with a similar purpose and I have looked because I would love to see websites dedicated to cataloging any genre of animal. Everything about crab database is wonderful and educational and silly.

#marine life #crabs #crab #tumblr crabs #hermit crab #I'm tagging every crab and ocean related thing I can because I know you bitches would love this website #ocean #ocean animal #sea animal #marine animal

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aquaticplushies · 8 months

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