The White Spotted Hermit Crab Carries A Mobile Home

A detailed close up of a White Spotted Hermit Crab in Mombasa Marine National Reserve, Kenya

The White Spotted Hermit Crab - Dardanus Megistos - is a lovely little crustacean that can be found while scuba diving along the outer reef or while snorkeling in the lagoons of the Indian Ocean. Growing up to about 20cm in size, its beautiful red color dotted with white spots makes it quite unmistakable compared to the other 1000 global hermit crab species. Its lovely color contrast and the fact that it is very approachable makes it a real nice subject to photograph underwater.

Contrary to the belief that hermit crabs grow bigger together with their shells, the reality is that as the individual grows, it actually has to vacate its now tightening mobile home in order for it to attain a large healthy body size. To do this it first needs to identify a suitable home, then vacate its current shell to move into the bigger one! A homeless hermit crab would not even last a minute on the open sea bed as it would quickly be devoured by a predator.

The search for an already vacant home can be a long and arduous task so most of the time, one hermit would need to fight with another hermit crab of the same or different species in order for it to commandeer its new residence.

Comments

Lions Mating Up Close In Kenya

This lion and lioness are mating really close to the road.

The Unique Looking Guitar Fish

Guitar Fish resting on the sea bed One of the most interesting characteristics about the guitar fish is its unique body shape. It seemingly looks like a cross between a shark and a ray - with its flattened ray like head yet it has a long shark like body with dorsal fins - but this fish is actually a classification of its own and has about 50 subspecies. The guitar fish prefers to remain tranquil on the sea bed, partly covering itself with sand to camouflage itself for any unsuspecting prey such as crabs or small fish that may come past it. Reaching sizes of approximately two meters in length, they are quite docile so can easily be approached by underwater photographers.

The Roughness Of A Lions Tongue

A lions tongue has numerous tiny spines called papillae Pet lovers with a domestic cat at home will relate to this story quite well, as they would have had their hands or fingers licked by their cat's tongue at some point or another. A lion’s tongue is no less different in design to that of a house cats, with the exception that its sheer size and heaviness would make a lions tongue as rough and harsh as sandpaper! But why is the lions tongue so rough and how is this beneficial? The reason for its roughness is that the surface of the lions tongue is covered in many tiny spines called papillae, which are further divided into 3 types namely; Filiform, Fungiform and Vallate papillae. The cats filiform papillae which is located on the tongues dorsal surface, is the main reason for the roughness, and these can also be compared to barbs since they face backwards in the direction of the throat. Having a barbed tongue is beneficial to the lion for a number of reasons. I...

WILD KENYA SAFARIS - Kenya Safaris, Diani Beach Safaris, Mombasa Safaris and more

Search This Blog