Hermit crab Hermit crab Hermit crabs are decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea. Most of the approximately 1,110 species possess an asymmetrical abdomen that is concealed in a scavenged mollusc shell carried around by the hermit crab. Most species have long, spirally curved abdomens, which are soft, unlike the hard, calcified abdomens seen in related crustaceans. The vulnerable abdomen is protected from predators by a salvaged empty seashell carried by the hermit crab, into which its whole body can retract. Most frequently, hermit crabs use the shells of sea snails (although the shells of bivalves and scaphopods and even hollow pieces of
Long-billed hermit Long-billed hermit The long-billed hermit ("Phaethornis longirostris") is a large hummingbird that is a resident breeder from central Mexico south to northwestern Colombia, extreme western Venezuela and western Ecuador. This species was formerly known as the western long-tailed hermit or just long-tailed hermit, but was renamed to highlight its unusual bill. The taxonomy of this group is complicated, with similar hermit populations from both sides of the Andes being originally named as one species, the long-tailed hermit, "P. superciliosus". The latter name in now reserved for the species east of the cordillera. There is potential separation of the paler, greyer,