What is the purpose of a hermit crab? My Latin class would like to know.

scubber

A living dichotomy that illustrates the stereotypical miserly, old, bent man who shuns society and lives an unlavished existence in his craggy, old home. In parallel it also demonstrates the beauty of independence and a life spent in peaceful retrospect and secure leisure. I digress. I am sure Hermit crabs do not suffer as much as King Crabs or Blue Crabs. They certainly could not face the same day-to-day issues that befall cake crabs, or beer-battered crabs. Dec 21 07, 7:48 AM

MonkeyOnALeash

And the practical purpose of the Hermit Crab would be what? Dec 21 07, 8:38 AM

McGruff

I suppose they serve a purpose in the food chain. Seagulls and some fish include hermit crabs in their diet. http://www.ypte.org.uk/docs/factsheets/env_facts/rocky_seashore.html Found an interesting sidenote. The king crab is descended from the hermit crab. King crabs (Family Lithodidae) are among the world's largest arthropods, having a crab-like morphology and a strongly calcified exoskeleton. The hermit crabs, by contrast, have depended on gastropod shells for protection for over 150 million years. Shell-living has constrained the morphological evolution of hermit crabs by requiring a decalcified asymmetrical abdomen capable of coiling into gastropod shells and by preventing crabs from growing past the size of the largest available shells. Whereas reduction in shell-living and acquisition of a crab-like morphology (carcinization) has taken place independently in several hermit crab lineages, and most dramatically in king crabs, the rate at which this process has occurred was entirely unknown. We present molecular evidence that king crabs are not only descended from hermit crabs, but are nested within the hermit crab genus Pagurus. We estimate that loss of the shell-living habit and the complete carcinization of king crabs has taken between 13 and 25 million years. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v355/n6360/abs/355539a0.html Dec 21 07, 9:42 AM

MonkeyOnALeash

Yes they are "Food Chain" specific. They are scavengers (they eat dead things) which is one of the most important steps in planet balance. Dec 21 07, 11:48 AM

star_gazer

They also make for "low maintenance" pets. Dec 21 07, 2:11 PM

myrab51

My mom has one! She actually said it is a pet that can understand her. She loves the thing. Dec 21 07, 2:29 PM

Baloo55th

Does any living creature have a purpose - or does it have a use? Not the same thing. A purpose is something desired for something by someone. A use is an actual functionality of something for the benefit of somthing or someone else. Dec 21 07, 5:56 PM

zbeckabee

I had a hermit crab once...and he fell apart...his legs fell off one by one and then his other parts fell off until he was just all these little pieces and a shell spread out all over his little aquarium...Then he died. Dec 21 07, 5:58 PM