Bernhard's Hermit Crab

Eats on dead organic material. A long foreplay, to ensure the baring of the abdomen was not vain. The mating only lasts less than a minute.

In the intertidal area and beneath. On rocky shores, shell bottoms and sandy and silty sediments, but never muddy. Among vegetation, as seagrass beds. Adults in shell of whelk, juveniles on beaches, often in shell of (peri)winkle and moonshells

Largest and most common heremit crab in our region. An average length of 10 cm, carapace of 3,5 cm. Color: red-orange. Only two out of four legs well developed. Only one cheliped, or scissor (almost always the right one) is much bigger. The pair of scissors always bear length ridges with a row of knobs on top. Eyes positioned on a stalk.