Hermit Crab moving day

I know this week is supposed to be all about frilled anemones at the touch tank, but it seems the hermit crabs weren't ready to let go of their time in the spotlight! Today we had a very exciting event - one of our large hermit crabs switched his shell!

Because hermit crabs don't grow their own hard shells like other crabs, they live in empty shells from other animals, such as dogwelks and moon snails, to protect themselves. The hermit crab today carefully inspected one of the empty shells in the tank, turning it over with its claws many times to make sure it would make a suitable home. It then left the safety of its original shell and moved over into the new shell! We don't get to see this event very often, so our visitors today were very lucky to witness the show. A big thanks to Emma and Scott Watson for visiting our tank two days in a row!