Beginners guide to hermitcrab species.

[Crabber85]

Since there are so many members wanting to get into exotics I figured it would be a good time to give a detailed list of each species including both common and scientific names as well as native regions for each species.I will also be including a link to a very informative species list on another website which will include pictures for those of you who need to see the hermitcrabs as well as read about them.The information given on the linked site is not entirely 100% accurate on the dispersal region of the Strawberry hermitcrab you'll notice that one of the regions listed happens to be North America due to some recent attempts to establish wild colonies supposedly around the Cape Cod area which is to far north for this species to survive and unfortunately we only have one indigenous species the PP or Purple Pincher.I will be listing both exotics and domestics here for general informational purposes so lets begin.The word Coenobita is pronounced Show-no bita and literally means Shield or Shielded.Domestic Species:Coenobita Clypeatus aka PP or Purple Pincher- this hermitcrab can only be found in North America and it ranges from the Florida Keys to the Bahamas, it has a light body color with orange or tan forelegs and has a light blue to deep purple defensive pincher which is where it gets it's name.This species needs a constant temp and humidity between 75 and 85 and lives inland away from the beach usually in the tree-line and so is not completely dependent upon available salt water to maintain its internal salt balance having the ability to regulate this by consuming foods with naturally occurring salts.Exotic Species: All exotics except for the Straw have similar temp and humidity requirements to the PP. Coenobita Compressus- Ecuadorian or E, this hermitcrab comes from the Pacific Coast of South America ranging from Mexico all the way down to Chile. This species is often lumped in the domestic category with the PP due to how close they live to the US in proximity but is actually an exotic.This species has a mono-tone body including the main defensive pincher unlike the PP and ranges in color from russet to green and absolutely requires a small dish of salt water to live and requires temps and humidity levels between 75 and 85.Coenobita Purpures or Blueberry hermitcrab comes from Japan but not mainland Japan but rather a specific island off the coast called Okinawa and is a very delicate species easily falling victim to fungal infections.This species is the color blue as the name suggests though the depth of the color varies depending upon age and diet so it can be anything from light blue to nearly purple.Conenobita Violascens or Viola comes from India, Philippines, Eastern Africa and Polynesia.This species is usually a darker pink to lighter purple color and is often times mistaken for the Indo.Coenobita Brevimanus or Indo comes from India, Japan, Eastern Africa, Malaysia, China and Taiwan.This species also has a purplish body color which is why as stated above it is often times mistaken with the Viola.Coenobita Rugosus or Ruggie comes from India, East Africa, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Ryukyu Islands and Polynesia.This species is most often mistaken for Ecuadorians and vice versa because the resemble each other so closely that they seem to be the same species to the untrained eye.Coenobita Cavipes or Concave hermitcrab comes from Micronesia, Polynesia, Eastern Africa, Japan, Philippines and Taiwan.Coenobita Perlatus or Strawberry/Straw comes from North Australia, Madagascar, Pacific Ocean and Red Sea.This species highly resembles the fruit of the same name it is bright red with white dots or specks and is completely dependent upon available salt water as it has no internal regulator it needs constant access to the water to maintain an internal salt balance.This species requires higher temps and humidity levels than the other species around 86 for each and needs to have deep large water dishes as they need to bathe frequently.Coenobita Variabilis or Aussie only comes from Perth Australia and kind of resembles E's and Ruggies and prefers to live away from the beach living in the sand dunes only going to the water for breeding purposes.There is one more species which is a subset of the Ruggie called Pseudo-Ruggosus and it resembles the Ruggie in nearly every way and comes from the same regions as the Ruggie.Here is the link I promised you can click it and check out images of each of the listed hermitcrabs if you want to see what they look like.Happy Crabbing.