New Hermit crabs at the Fundy Discovery Aquarium

Come and warm yourself in front of our tropical tanks this winter. We are excited to announce a brand new display at the Fundy Discovery Aquarium: tropical species of hermit crabs. We have chosen some marine species from around the world, and we have one land hermit crab that comes from the Caribbean.

Why tropical species? Well, it is well known that we have hermit crabs here in the Bay of Fundy,  but it is a treat to be able to compare them with other species. Do they have similar features? Do they live the same way? The display is right next to our touchpool, that houses the popular Acadian hermit crab (Pagurus acadianus), so you can see them all on one floor and discover the differences between them.

Let me introduce you to some of them. The first ones that we acquired were the land hermits. We had to set up a terrarium with a substrate of sand, small gravel and soil, with plenty of branches for them to climb on. The Caribbean Hermit crab (Coenobita clypeatus) is a nocturnal species, so we do not see a lot of movement during the day. Rather, I tend to see evidence of their behaviors when  I come in the morning; a shell has been moved to a different corner, tracks in the sand have changed, food has been nibbled at... These crabs come out when the heat is not as intensive, and  they enjoy a very high humidity level. They will feed on anything vegetable and animal, like greens, fruits, fish, and even tropical fish food.

Like all hermit crabs, they are constantly in search of new and better gastropod shells to live in, so even though the two hermits that we currently have came in with good sized shells, they immediately investigated the spare ones I had put in the terrarium. One of them adopted a new shell on the very first night last week. This morning, it looks like the two may have switched shells once again. Hence the importance of keeping a good supply of spare ones around their habitat.

It will be a challenge to care for the new species, but it will be a very good learning experience. This week, we are set to receive two more species, both marine, the electric blue hermit crab (Calcinus elegans) and the Halloween hermit crab (Ciliopagurus strigatus).