Friday, January 07, 2011

Spring fashions have arrived!

Still playing with my new camera.

One of the smallest hermit crabs molted the other day. I saw his (her?) old carapace floating in the current. A couple of days later, I found him, high up in the eelgrass, clinging desperately to a swirling blade. He was still out of his shell, possibly because he'd grown too much after the molt to fit back in. These are hermits that like to wear their shortsshells skin-tight. After a molt, while the carapace and legs are still soft, they absorb water and grow visibly. A new, bigger shell is often necessary.

So here was little "Jade", all alone, unable to hang out with the others, where he would be in danger of a quick swipe from the big crab's pincer, and needing a shell. He would have to go down to get one eventually.

All hunched over, holding on tight.,

The next day, when I checked, he was still at the top of the tank, still bare naked. I wondered if maybe he hadn't been able to find a big enough shell. I looked , and couldn't find any either, so I dug out a handful from my dry storage; different sizes, different species; should be something there to fit!

A few hours later, he was down on the bottom, feeding happily, wearing the biggest of the shells I had provided, a long, pointy mudsnail shell. Good! So from now on, I'd be able to recognize him. That makes two of the small ones identifiable.

One step forward, one step back. This afternoon, I noticed that the little heap of substitute shells was gone. And sitting where it used to be, was the cute, peek-a-boo, pearl-lined shell that "Teeny" had been wearing. Two of the other small hermits had changed shells, too; gotta keep up with the season's new styles.

Which one is Teeny? I have no idea. At least, I know Jade, for now.

3 comments:

  1. Hi, beautiful and interesting capture..

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  2. You have the most interesting blog! Each time I visit, it seems there is something I haven't seen in awhile, or something exciting happening in your tank. It's wonderful...thank you!

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  3. I agree with Marion, this blog is a joy to read. Also, WW was a large influence when I decided to set up a saltwater aquarium a few months back.

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I'm having to moderate all comments because Blogger seems to have a problem notifying me. Sorry about that. I will review them several times daily, though, until this issue is fixed.

Also, I have word verification on, because I found out that not only do I get spam without it, but it gets passed on to anyone commenting in that thread. Not cool!

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