HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So if anyone out there knows anything about crab anatomy, I would love some help to know what I'm looking at!! Since Okarin died I didn't want it to be in vain, so I necropsied him to see if I could figure anything out. He had only been dead about 12 hours as I couldn't bring myself to do it sooner, and even then he did get that brown liquid that pooled in his shell so it wasn't the neatest or easiest dissection.

The full album of pictures is here: http://photobucket.com/wodesorelnecropsy password is "crabmites" (no quotations) as I didn't think it should be a public album given it's nature.

The photos are graphic - they are of a cut up hermit crab. If the thought bothers you I would encourage you not to click, as honestly it's not something I had ever wanted to see myself.

Abdominal staining that was there when he died:
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/ ... aining.jpg

Side:
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/ ... deview.jpg

Rear Plate:
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/ ... arview.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/ ... plate2.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/ ... plate1.jpg

First incision. Whatever that organ is (a digestive organ of some sort?) looks severely enlarged and diseased, but I have nothing to compare it to:
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/ ... cision.jpg

More of that organ:
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/ ... organ2.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/ ... organ1.jpg

Heart (looks like an alien in there. I jumped when I opened the area as it looks like eyes staring out):
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/ ... heart2.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/ ... /heart.jpg

Gill Mites:

(more graphic below)
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/ ... mites5.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/ ... mites4.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/ ... mites3.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k104/ ... mites2.jpg

There were a lot on both sides and on all gills.


So yeah, not conclusive of anything and not the easiest animal to look inside of. There may have been other parasites in the front area but it's so hard to get in there that I wouldn't have been able to see anything.

Would love some thoughts or some ideas if any of this is "normal" for a hermit!

You did a great job, although I would have been crying like a baby Thanks for documenting this!

I would never have been able to do that. You're one heck of a lot braver than me.

I wish I could provide some insight... I have no idea, though.

These were interesting to look at though kind of disturbing. uiajnfufeu gill mites.

Sorry again about your baby! And thank you for providing us with these images. I haven't seen anything like this before (though I can't say I've gone looking).



Gab

[quote="wodesorel"]
The full album of pictures is here: http://photobucket.com/wodesorelnecropsy password is "crabmites" (no quotations) as I didn't think it should be a public album given it's nature.

Can't open the link. I don't think anyone can. So sorry for your loss.

I'm so sorry for you loss Thank you for sharing this with everyone, that's pretty kool to be able to dissect one.

So I had another small crab that passed this weekend. It attempted to molt in the shell shop (at least, that's where I found it) and was still super soft with some damage to it's legs and no sign of the exo. I moved it up to the ISO but she died a few days ago. I was thinking about the gill mite question and since she was still in the freezer (it's been raining for days here) I though why not. I defrosted her enough to get a look at her lungs. They were black and shriveled, probably from decomposition, and she did indeed have a couple of gill mites on them. So either that is affecting crabs and causing them to die OR they're common and it's just one of those things. (Like fleas on a dog, or ticks on a deer.) I'm thinking it's the latter.

I found a PDF that goes through all of the parasites Hermies can get. I can't follow the info really well due to the extensive scientific language but maybe you can. The link is : http://people.hofstra.edu/jason_d_willi ... 20copy.pdf

oh nice

wode that plate just might be a parasite looking at page 24 of that pdf. Or maybe it's just gotten tough over the years of rubbing on the shell, like a callous.

And There are some parasites that reproduce around the molting cycle... wow crazy

"Among these potential parasites are four mesomycetozoans that are found in the digestive
tract of hosts and four apostome ciliates whose reproduction is synchronized with the host's molting."

edit: gill mites on page 28

Hey Wode,
Would you mind, or do I have your permission to, show these to my marine bio professor, he has spectacular insights to these (and many other) kinds of things.

Jenny - yes yes and more yes! That would be awesome!

claireeliz1 wrote:I found a PDF that goes through all of the parasites Hermies can get. I can't follow the info really well due to the extensive scientific language but maybe you can. The link is : http://people.hofstra.edu/jason_d_willi ... 20copy.pdf

According to that paper Coenobita sp. has only mites as parasite source, which to me doesn't sound right. There just isn't a lot of study into the family as a whole when it comes to parasites. I noticed a lot of his sources were from the 30's and the 60's, so there hasn't been a lot of new research into hermit crabs in decades. I would argue that they would be just as likely to be host to worms and nematodes and other things. The worm that came out of tigermoon's crab last year would be an example of this.

It was also written at the time when hermit crab keepers were still confusing food mites found in the tank as harmful mites, something we now all recognize as being completely wrong. It's a great read, but I don't think it's going to actually help much. Perfect for marine species but seriously lacking for our land hermits.

Ew mites.. but I can't deny that I am completely fascinated by the pictures especially of the gills. Great work & very interesting.

wodesorel wrote: According to that paper Coenobita sp. has only mites as parasite source, which to me doesn't sound right. There just isn't a lot of study into the family as a whole when it comes to parasites. I noticed a lot of his sources were from the 30's and the 60's, so there hasn't been a lot of new research into hermit crabs in decades. I would argue that they would be just as likely to be host to worms and nematodes and other things. The worm that came out of tigermoon's crab last year would be an example of this.

It was also written at the time when hermit crab keepers were still confusing food mites found in the tank as harmful mites, something we now all recognize as being completely wrong. It's a great read, but I don't think it's going to actually help much. Perfect for marine species but seriously lacking for our land hermits.

I just saw the huge list and hermit crabs. I was hoping it would help somewhat

I was under the impression that gill mites were a normal thing.. But now I can't help wondering if I would find them in my crabs... Q_Q