''Paguristes cadenati'', the red reef hermit crab or scarlet hermit crab, is a small (about across) species of hermit crab with a bright red body and yellow eyestalks that lives in the Caribbean Sea. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honours the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Jean Cadenat (1908-1992), who collected the type specimen and sent it to the French

carcinologist A carcinologist is a scientist who studies crustaceans or is otherwise involved in carcinology Carcinology is a branch of zoology that consists of the study of crustaceans, a group of arthropods that includes lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill, ...

Jacques Forest Jacques Forest (14 June 1920 – 16 February 2012) was a French carcinologist. Biography Born in Créteil on 14 June 1920, Jacques Forest grew up in Maubeuge. He served in the army for a year during the Second World War, and went on to study a ...

, who described it as a new species.

Description

The red reef hermit crab grows to a length of about . The limbs and chelae (pincers) are smooth and hairless, and the left chela is slightly larger than the right one; the abdomen is unarmoured and is concealed in the recesses of the

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

shell that protects it. The general colour of this hermit crab is bright red with the exception of the antennae, which are deep red, and the elongated eyestalks, which are yellow or yellowish-orange. The corneas of the eyes are yellowish-green. It could be confused with the orange-claw hermit crab (''Calcinus tibicen'') which is similar in size, but that species is generally darker in colour and has white patches near the tips of its limbs.

Distribution and habitat

This hermit crab is native to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, its range including southern Florida and the West Indies. It occurs on coral reefs at depths ranging from the

intertidal zone The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species o ...

down to about .

Ecology

The red reef hermit crab is a

scavenger Scavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a herbivorous feeding b ...

, feeding on animal and vegetable

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...

. The sexes are separate in this species and it breeds throughout the year. The eggs are orange and hatch into planktonic larvae. When these settle on the seabed, the juvenile hermit crabs need to search for a suitable shell to occupy. They often inhabit the empty shells of '' Cerithium'' species and ''

Vasum ''Vasum'', common name the vase snails or vase shells, is a genus of mostly rather large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks within the family Turbinellidae.Bouchet, P. (2011). Vasum Röding, 1798. Accessed through: World Register of ...

'' species. This hermit crab is suitable for inclusion in an invertebrate-friendly reef aquarium where it consumes algae, including filamentous, hair, and slime algae, as well as

cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, blu ...

and is useful in keeping the tank clean.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paguristes Cadenati Hermit crabs Crustaceans of the Atlantic Ocean Crustaceans described in 1954