Category: Crabs and Shrimp view all from this category

Description 1/2" (13 mm) long, 3/8" (10 mm) wide. Living in snail shell. Oblong. Grayish or greenish-white, pincers with tannish-gray or tannish stripe down middle, edged with white. Carapace widest at rear. Right pincer larger than left, hand nearly cylindrical, 3 times longer than wide, smooth except for row of weak spines at edge and down middle. 5th pair of walking legs turned up. Abdomen long, soft, cylindrical, with reduced appendages.

Habitat On sand, mud, rock, and weed bottoms, along open shores and in brackish estuaries; from low-tide line to water 150' (45 m) deep.

Range Nova Scotia to Florida and Texas.

Discussion This is the most common hermit crab in Atlantic waters. It usually uses periwinkle, mud snail, or oyster drill shells—frequently covered with Snail Fur hydroids—as a home.