Crabs

Crabs wear their skeleton on the outside, so to grow they must molt, shedding their hard shell and waiting for a new one to harden. Hermit crabs take a different approach: their soft abdomen is unprotected, so they borrow empty snail shells and move into bigger ones as they grow.

Much of this category is devoted to hermit crabs as pets, with guides to pet hermit crab care, diet, molting and why your hermit crab needs another shell. You can also follow the crab life cycle from tiny drifting larvae to adult, and meet colorful freshwater species like the vampire crab and Thai devil crab.