Caribbean hermit crab right claw and is purple in color. Female land hermit crabs release fertilized eggs into the ocean. The spawning (called "washing" in the English-speaking Caribbean) occurs on certain nights, usually around August. This species is one of the two land hermit crabs commonly sold in the United States as a pet, the other being the Ecuadorian hermit crab. "C. clypeatus" has been confirmed to live as long as 12 years, and some crab owners have claimed to have crabs live up to 40 years. Caribbean hermit crab The Caribbean hermit crab, Coenobita clypeatus, also known as the soldier crab, the
Stripe-throated hermit been considered a subspecies of the little hermit ("P. longuemareus"), but morphological data suggest it may be closer to the grey-chinned hermit ("P. griseolaris"). At present most, if not all, major authorities accept the split (SACC, the Clements check list, the Howard & Moore check list, etc.). It has been suggested that the mainly Central American taxon "saturatus", which typically is considered a subspecies of "P. striigularis", may deserve species status, in which case it would become the dusky hermit or Boucard's hermit ("P. saturatus"). The taxon "adolphi" is considered a junior synonym of "saturatus" by most authorities. It occurs