Habitat 
Depth 
Group 
Role WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
This medium-sized hermit crab measures around five to eight centimetres including legs and claws. Visible parts are brown to orange-red, with small granules and short hairs. The two claws are similar in size, the left being slightly larger.
Grey-blue eyes sit on long peduncles, movable yellow-orange to reddish stalks. A rounded blue-violet mark lies on the inner surface of each claw-bearing arm. This ocellus, an eye-like spot, is useful when the animal’s position allows it to be seen.
WHERE DOES IT LIVE?
It uses sandy, muddy and debris-rich seabeds, as well as Posidonia seagrass. It is often observed between ten and fifty metres. Some encounters are much shallower, including in lagoons such as the Thau lagoon.
Its range includes the Mediterranean and nearby Atlantic. A gastropod shell, left by a mollusc such as a sea snail, protects its abdomen. Organisms growing on it alter the housing’s appearance, sometimes hiding the shell itself.
WHAT DOES IT EAT?
It is a detritivore: it eats remains of animals or plants. The claws grasp fragments and bring them towards the mouth. It thereby uses organic material available on the seabed.
Their presence represents optional cohabitation between organisms.
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- Advanced navigation between description, ecological context, observations and behaviour
- Interactive food chain to explore the species’ feeding relationships
