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What is the difference between crabs and hermit crabs?

Question #67963. Asked by yumchicken.

Gnomon
Answer has 6 votes
Gnomon
24 year member
1331 replies

Answer has 6 votes.
Most crabs have shells, but the hermit crab is a type of crab that doesn't. Instead, they adopt discarded mollusc shells such as whelks and periwinkles, and use their shell.

Jul 07 2006, 5:57 PM
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zbeckabee
Answer has 7 votes
Currently Best Answer
zbeckabee
Moderator
19 year member
11752 replies avatar

Answer has 7 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
The term crab is often applied to several different groups of short (nose to tail) decapod crustaceans with thick exoskeletons, but only members of the Brachyura are true crabs. Other taxa, such as hermit crabs, porcelain crabs and king crabs are, despite superficial similarities, not crabs at all; rather, they belong to the Anomura and can be distinguished from true crabs by counting the legs. In Anomura, the last pair of pereiopods (walking legs) is hidden inside the carapace, so only four pairs are visible (counting the claws), whereas uninjured true crabs always have five visible pairs.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab

Jul 07 2006, 7:31 PM
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