''Coenobita scaevola'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of terrestrial

hermit crab Hermit crabs are anomuran decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea that have adapted to occupy empty scavenged mollusc shells to protect their fragile exoskeletons. There are over 800 species of hermit crab, most of which possess an as ...

from the western

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

and

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

Distribution

''Coenobita scaevola'' lives around parts of the

, including the Gulf of Aden and the coasts of

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. Although the hermit crabs of the

are poorly studied, they include ''C. scaevola'' as the region's only species of terrestrial hermit crab.

Taxonomy

''Coenobita scaevola'' was first described in 1775 by

Peter Forsskål Peter Forsskål, sometimes spelled Pehr Forsskål, Peter Forskaol, Petrus Forskål or Pehr Forsskåhl (11 January 1732 – 11 July 1763) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish explorer, orientalist, naturalist, and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Earl ...

, under the name ''Cancer scaevola'', with a type locality of Jeddah,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

Life cycle

Reproduction takes place during the hottest months of the year, when temperatures are . In common with other hermit crabs, the young animals of ''Coenobita scaevola'' pass through a number of larval phases, before reaching the glaucothoe and then the juvenile stage. ''C. scaevola'' has the greatest number of

zoea Crustaceans may pass through a number of larval and immature stages between hatching from their eggs and reaching their adult form. Each of the stages is separated by a moult, in which the hard exoskeleton is shed to allow the animal to grow. The ...

l phases of any ''Coenobita'' species (seven), and they last longer than in any other ''Coenobita'' species, lasting a total of 54–80 days.

Ecology

''Coenobita scaevola'' can survive in

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ...

conditions, such as those on the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is ...

, but only close to the shore, to which it must return regularly to replenish the water stored in its shell for

respiration Respiration may refer to: Biology * Cellular respiration, the process in which nutrients are converted into useful energy in a cell ** Anaerobic respiration, cellular respiration without oxygen ** Maintenance respiration, the amount of cellul ...

. ''C. scaevola'' rests in burrows or among coastal vegetation during the heat of the day, and emerges at night to feed. Although the air temperature outside the burrows can reach during the day, at a depth of , the temperature does not exceed . Most adults up to a carapace length of occupy a ''

Nerita undata ''Nerita undata'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Neritidae. ;Synonyms: * ''Nerita undata quadricolor'' Gmelin, 1791: synonym of '' Nerita quadricolor'' Gmelin, 1791 * ''Nerita undata var. micronesica'' E. ...

'' shell. Larger individuals choose '' Turbo radiatus'', '' Polinices milanstomus'' and '' Monodonta canalifera'', while small individuals (below ) occupy shells of '' Planaxis sulcatus'' and '' Nassarius arcularia''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5140735 Hermit crabs Crustaceans described in 1775 Taxa named by Peter Forsskål Terrestrial crustaceans

Distribution

Taxonomy

Life cycle

Ecology

Further reading

References