The Return of the Prodigal Bloody Hermit Crab

    Yesterday Sandra and I went swimming on the Ironman side of the pier.   There was a modest breeze and

Bloody Hermit Crab / Episcopal Miter 2012, Kailua Pier

the water was more than just a little choppy.  Coupled with a bit of swell, it was enough to give you motion sickness, if you were so inclined. We had our swim without seeing much of interest, but on a hot day it was really peasant being in the cool, albeit choppy water.

We completed our swim by crossing under the floating line next to the pier.  Right away we saw the milletseed butterfly that has bee hanging out in that vicinity.  And then, just as we were starting to head in, I saw a beautiful miter shell sitting on the bottom.  Without skipping a beat, my heart sung with joy.  This was a five inch long shell in fine condition.  The mollusc who ordinarily inhabits the shell, I suppose we might call

Bloody Hermit Crab, D. sanguinocarpus  Kailua Pier 2014

him the miter snail, chooses to live in the sand below forty feet. The only way that shell got there was by dint of a substantial  amount of effort on behalf of a hermit crab; a crab capable of lugging that substantial shell from the depths to the coral rubble by the pier.   












    I picked up the shell and looked inside. There was a furry leg blocking the entrance.  The hermit crab inside never came out, but there is no doubt that it was  a bloody hermit crab, Dardanus sanguinocarpus.  Sandra and I are not the biggest experts on hermit crabs in Hawaii, but we have a fair share of experience

Episcopal Miter with Bloody Hermit Crab Inside July 2017

with this species.  I have pictures, which I am sharing with you here, of the bloody hermit crab hauling a long miter shell in the vicinity of the pier dating back five years.  In our experience it is obvious that different species of hermits, given a choice, will choose a certain species of shell.  Of the half dozen or so bloody hermit crabs that I have seen, at least two others were lugging this enormous Episcopal miter shell.  All the others, one at the pier and two or three at Kahalu'u, were living in much more manageable triton shells.  We have never seen any other hermit hauling around a large miter.  As you can see from the pictures, the choice seems misguided.  Sort of like asking big ol' cumbersome Russia to interfere in our presidential election.  And who would be  that foolish?

   To the best of my knowledge, based on photographs and fish lists, I have not seen a bloody hermit crab since 2014.  Suffice it to say, we are always looking.  So lets have a toast to this rare animal who, once

Bloody Hermit Crab In a Triton Shell  December 2013

again,  has found its way into the shallows of the Kailua Bay.  Confusion to the enemy!

jeff