ChemIONS

This habit of living in a second hand shell is what gave rise to the popular name "hermit crab", which is a reference to the idea of a hermit living alone in a small cave.

There are about five hundred known species of hermit crabs in the world, most of which are aquatic and live in saltwater at depths ranging from shallow coral reefs and shorelines to deep sea bottoms. However in the tropics, a number of species are terrestrial, and some of these are quite large, for example, Coenobita clypeatus.

A number of other species, most notably king crabs, have abandoned seashells for a free-living life; these species have forms which are more similar to true crabs, and are known as carcinised hermit crabs.

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