Hermit Crabs Socialize to Trade Up for Larger Shells

Hermit crabs use abandon snail shells for homes, which they remodel by hollowing them out to make them bigger. Laidre says these empty snail shells are rare on land, so the best hope a hermit crab has of getting a new, larger shell as it grows is to kick another crab out of its shell. Laidre says that when three or more terrestrial hermit crabs congregate they quickly attract dozens of other crabs eager to trade. The hermit crabs then form a conga line from smallest to largest, with each holding onto the crab in front of it. Once a crab is wrenched from its shell, they all simultaneously move into larger shells. The unfortunate crab yanked out of its shell tends to wind up with the smallest shell.

“Yanking” just doesn’t sound social to me.

#naturerocks