Coenobita perlatus

Appearance

Adults may grow to an average length of 80 mm and a mass of 80 g , and inhabit discarded gastropod shells. They are coloured red or orange; this has led to the species' common name of ''strawberry hermit crab''.

Distribution

''C. perlatus'' lives in a wide swathe of the Indo-Pacific, from Mauritius, Seychelles and Aldabra in the west to Samoa in the east. In Australia, the species is limited to Christmas Island, the Cocos Islands, the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea Islands Territory. In the wild, animals may live for 25–30 years, but only live for 1–4 years in captivity.

Behavior

''C. perlatus'' keeps a supply of water in the shell it inhabits. It returns to the sea at night to refresh its water, and it performs osmoregulation by taking appropriate quantities of sea water and fresh water. In the heat of the day, it can bury itself in damp sand as a means of thermoregulation and to prevent water loss. It can also withdraw into its shell and close the aperture with its claws.

''C. perlatus'' is an efficient scavenger, to the extent that the low numbers of carrion-breeding flies on many islands have been attributed to the presence of ''C. perlatus''. It has also been observed to use its claws to pinch the live flesh from the invasive land snail ''Achatina fulica''.

Eggs are brooded inside the shell that the female inhabits, but are released into the sea.

Evolution

''Coenobita perlatus'' was originally described in 1837 by Henri Milne-Edwards, based on material from Mauritius.

Uses

''C. perlatus'' is the rarest of the six species which are frequently found in the hobby aquarium trade.