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Updated: Jul 6, 2025

Assessing Intertidal Populations of the Invasive European Green Crab
Published on: September 16, 2020
The plastic homes of hermit crabs in the Anthropocene
Zuzanna Jagiello1, Łukasz Dylewski2, Marta Szulkin3
1Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland; Department of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland.
Abstract:
Plastic is the most pervasive element of marine waste, with harmful impact on wildlife. By using iEcology (i.e., internet Ecology, use of online data sources as a new tool in ecological research), we report on the emergence of a novel behaviour in hermit crabs related to the use of plastic or other anthropogenic materials as protective shells. We analysed images posted on social media to identify 386 individuals with artificial shells - mainly plastic caps (85 %). We report that 10 of the world's 16 terrestrial hermit crabs use artificial shells, a behaviour observed on all of the Earth's tropical coasts. Four non-exclusive mechanisms may drive individual choice for artificial shells: sexual signaling, lightness of artificial shells, odour cues, and camouflage in a polluted environment. Further research is needed to determine the impact of this behaviour on hermit crab evolutionary trajectories.
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