Before the mishap with the pump, there were thirty hermits in the tank, Hairies, Grainy hands, and a bunch of tiny ones, possibly Greenmarks. I took them all out and counted them tonight; twenty-five survived. They look healthy; bright-eyed, curious and lively.
And a fair number are in berry, carrying developing eggs.
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| In berry. She's carrying reddish eggs on the side of her cephalothorax. The eggs are new; the mass is still small. |
After the new pump was installed several of the hermits molted the same day. This would be the moment when they were able to mate; once their new exoskeleton has hardened, it is again impossible.
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| Very tiny pale blue and green hermit. Probably recently molted, as the colour darkens later on. |
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| Another female, a Hairy hermit, in berry. |
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| A small hermit. I love the graceful "flags" they are always waving. The one on the left (our left) is probably folded back at the moment. |
When the eggs mature and are released, the hatchlings will be planktonic swimmers called zoeas. Once again, they will probably be too small to survive in a tank with a pump and filter.
Some critters do breed well in the tank; I'll talk about them tomorrow.
Wonderful photos, Susannah. When I was a kid, my mom went to stay in Florida with her brother. She mailed some shells home to us kids - we were living in Montreal at that time. We unwrapped the shells and soon realized there were 3 or 4 hermit crabs living in the shells, so we set them up with a little terrarium with a water pool. They were endlessly fascinating and we had them for a very long time.
ReplyDeleteI was recently on vacation on Cape Cod. I had never before realized how common hermit crabs were, but, thanks to your posts, I thought to look closely, and nearly every "empty" snail shell I found actually contained a hermit crab. Cool.
ReplyDeleteSo, the "Hermit" Crab really isn't a hermit at all! Enjoy learning this kind of thing. Thanks.
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