Tuesday, December 08, 2020

Shell games

I'm still watching my hermits.

Hairy hermit with add-ons.

Sometimes a hermit will be carrying a limpet, like the one on the lower shell. Sometimes it's a snail. This one has a pink-tipped green anemone. And the anemone has collected her own decorations; bits of shell, stones, and one pretty peeled snail shell. I took the photo the other day. When I looked the next day, the anemone had moved forward and sits now on the very front lip of the shell, over Hermie's head. There's good eating there; hermits are messy eaters and his shrimp pellets float back to the anemone.

Small hermit, checking out a new shell.

He rolled the shell over a few times, poked around inside, measured the opening, and decided it wasn't quite what he wanted. Too small, I think. I need to find these guys some more shells.

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Sigo observando los ermitaños en el acuario. La primera foto es de un ermitaño "peludo", Pagurus hirsutiusculus, llevando una anémona en la concha. A veces se les sube una lapa, como la que lleva la concha debajo de este ermitaño, a veces es un caracol marino. Aquí el pasajero es una anémona agregante, Anthopleura elegantissima. Y la anémona por su parte se ha decorado con pedazos de concha, piedritas, y la mayor parte de una concha de caracol marino.

Saqué esta foto hace algunos días. Cuando miré al otro día, la anémona se había arrimado hacia el borde de la concha justo detrás de la cabeza del ermitaño. Es un buen sitio; el ermitaño es descuidado, y esparce migajas de sus bocados de camarón mientras come; el agua las lleva directamente a los tentículos de la anémona.

En la segunda foto, un ermitaño chico está considerando cambiarse de concha. Midió esta, la volteó varias veces, metió sus pinzas hasta el fondo, y decidió que no le servía. Creo que era demasiado chico. Necesito buscarles una selección de conchas nuevas.


2 comments:

  1. I wonder how long a hermit must sit still for an anemone to climb aboard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's an interesting question. I'll try a few experiments with floating anemones.

      Delete

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