Pagurus pollicaris

Pagurus pollicaris is a hermit crab commonly found along the Atlantic coast of North America from New Brunswick to the Gulf of Mexico. It is known by a number of common names, including gray hermit crab,[1] flat-clawed hermit crab,[2] flatclaw hermit crab,[1] shield hermit crab,[2] thumb-clawed hermit crab,[3] broad-clawed hermit crab,[4] and warty hermit crab.[5]

Pagurus pollicaris
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Family: Paguridae
Genus: Pagurus
Species:
P. pollicaris
Binomial name
Pagurus pollicaris
Say, 1817 [1]

P. pollicaris inhabits the shells of shark eye snails and whelks.[4] It grows to a length of 31 millimetres (1.2 in) and a width of 25 mm (1.0 in).[2] The shell is often shared by the commensal zebra flatworm (Stylochus ellipticus).[2]

The diet of the flat-clawed hermit crab comprises organic matter, algae, and sometimes other hermit crabs. Fish are the most important predators of this species.

References
  1. "Pagurus pollicaris Say, 1817". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  2. Andrew J. Martinez & Candace Storm Martinez (2003). "Flat-clawed hermit crab Pagurus pollicaris". Marine Life of the North Atlantic: Canada to New England (3rd ed.). Aqua Quest Publications. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-881652-32-8.
  3. Susan B. Rothschild (2004). Beachcomber's Guide to Gulf Coast Marine Life: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida (3rd ed.). Taylor Trade Publications. ISBN 978-1-58979-061-2.
  4. Alice Jane Lippson & Robert L. Lippson (2006). "Intertidal flats". Life in the Chesapeake Bay (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 57–93. ISBN 978-0-8018-8338-5.
  5. R. P. Cowles (1930). "A biological study of the offshore waters of Chesapeake Bay" (PDF). Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries. 46: 276–381.
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