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Crustaceans of Zihuatanejo

SUBPHYLUM CRUSTACEA

-Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

-Arthropods (Phylum Arthropoda)

-Crustaceans (Subphylum Crustacea)

-Typical Crustaceans (Superclass Multicrustacea)

-Malacostracans (Class Malacostraca)

-Decapods, Isopods, and Allies (Subclass Eumalacostraca)

-Decapods and Krill (Superorder Eucarida)

-Decapods (Order Decapoda)

-Crabs, Lobsters, Shrimps, and Allies (Suborder Pleocyemata)

-Anomurans (Infraorder Anomura)

-Hermit Crabs (Superfamily Paguroidea)

-Land Hermit Crabs (Family Coenobitidae)

-Genus Coenobita

-Ecuadorian Hermit Crab (Coenobita compressus)


The Ecuadorian hermit crab is indigenous to the Pacific side of Central and South America (from Lower California to Chile). Coenobita compressus live on the Pacific seashore, rarely more than 330 yds (300 meters) inland. They are frequently found both in sandy areas (like beaches and dunes), and tropical (in the grass and rainforest areas) under the rocks above high tide. Like most hermit crabs species, Coenobita compressus does not have complete exoskeletons and uses gastropod shells to protect its soft abdomen.

Ecuadorian Hermit Crab

Coenobita compressus

Diet

  • Omnivorous scavenger, feeding on decaying plant material, fallen fruits, seeds, algae, carrion, dead fish, insects, and other organic debris.

  • Occasionally consumes fungi, molluscs, and small invertebrates.

  • Primarily forages at night, using its keen sense of smell to locate food over surprisingly long distances.

Range

  • Native to the tropical eastern Pacific, from the Gulf of California and the Pacific coast of Mexico south through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and northern Peru.

  • Common along the Pacific coast of Mexico, including the Zihuatanejo region of Guerrero.

Habitat

  • Inhabits sandy beaches, rocky shores, mangroves, coastal scrub, and tropical dry forests close to the shoreline.

  • Adults are terrestrial, living above the high-tide line and sheltering beneath driftwood, rocks, vegetation, or in shallow burrows during the day.

  • Although adults live on land and breathe with modified gills that must remain moist, females return to the ocean to release their larvae, which develop in the sea before settling ashore as juvenile hermit crabs.

Size

  • Shield length: 10–25 mm (0.4–1.0 in)

  • Overall body length: 3–8 cm (1.2–3.1 in), depending on the shell occupied.

  • Weight: Typically 10–60 g, depending on body size and shell.

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