Calcinus elegans
| Calcinus elegans | ||||||||||||
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Calcinus elegans in a rounded snail shell of a turbo snail, which is unusual for the species. |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Calcinus elegans | ||||||||||||
| ( H. Milne-Edwards , 1836) |
Calcinus elegans is a hermit crab from the tropical Indo-Pacific . It is nocturnal, inhabits coral reefs and lives on shallow tidal pools down to a depth of ten meters. Most common are the crabs just below the intertidal zone . Larger specimens prefer the lower depth range.
features
Calcinus elegans mainly uses the elongated shells of small Triton snails (Ranellidae) to protect the soft abdomen. The carapace of the crabs is black, the legs are ringed black to dark brown and blue. The eyes and stalks are blue, the antennae are orange, the scissors are brown, and their tips are speckled with white. In the population around Hawaii , the blue is replaced by orange. Although Calcinus elegans belongs to the family of left-handed hermit crabs (Diogenidae), both claws are about the same size. Calcinus elegans becomes about six centimeters long.
The crabs are omnivores and feed on algae, carrion and all sorts of small invertebrates.
Aquaristics
Calcinus elegans is often imported under the popular names "Electric Blue Hermit" and "Harlequin Hermit" for aquarium keeping and is easy to look after . He is incompatible with other species.
literature
- Hans A. Baensch , Robert A. Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas, Volume 5: Invertebrates . Mergus-Verlag, Melle, ISBN 3-88244-115-1 .
- Helmut Debelius: Cancer Guide . Jahr Verlag, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-86132-504-7 .
- Svein A. Fosså, Alf J. Nilsen: Coral reef aquaristics today and tomorrow (Coral reef aquarium; Vol. 6). Birgit Schmettkamp Verlag, Bornheim 1998, ISBN 3-928819-18-6 .
