Ecuadorian Hermit Crab - Features and Identification

Features and Identification

Coenobita compressus is a member of the phylum Arthropoda and the class Malacostraca. They can be up to 12 millimetres (0.47 in) in length and are thought to be one the smallest species of land hermit crabs. They have four walking legs, a small pincer, a large pincer, and antennae. Many people who keep these hermit crabs as pets notice that Ecuadorians can be relatively fast walkers, even faster than Caribbean hermit crabs, and that they are quite active. The eyes of Ecuadorians are more oval-shaped when compared to the round eyes of Caribbean hermit crabs and are thicker. Their big claw has 4 or 5 small ridges on the upper part. The tips of the second pair of walking legs are darker than the rest of the leg. The abdomen of the Ecuadorian hermit crab is short and fat.

Ecuadorian hermit crabs vary greatly in colour, some are bright (yellow, dark grey, or orange), but more often they are a tan colour. Sometimes they may have a blue or green tint to their bodies or the insides of their legs. They also have comma-shaped eyes, unlike the "purple pincher" (Coenobita clypeatus), which has dot-shaped eyes.

When choosing a shell, they tend to give preference to shells with a wide and round aperture. As with all hermit crabs, painted shells are harmful to them, as they often eat the paint chips and can be poisoned with chemicals used in the paint. This significantly shortens their life span.