A Ecuadorian hermit crab is handled by a marine biologist, during a wildlife survey in the Las Lisas beach, in Santa Rosa, Guatemala. The Ecuadorian hermit crab (Coenobita compressus) also known as the Pacific hermit crab is a species of land hermit crab. It is one of the two land hermit crabs commonly sold in North America as pets, the other being the Caribbean hermit crab (C. clypeatus). When choosing a shell, they tend to give preference to shells with a wide and round aperture. Native to the Americas, these hermit crabs live on the Pacific seashore ranging from Mexico to Chile, and tend to gather around tidal pools and high-tide zone. Their bodies have adapted to this seashore existence, and in captivity, they require access to seawater, as they must metabolize the salt in it and bathe in it to maintain gill moisture. Like most hermit crabs, they are scavengers and consume seaweed, dead fish, and other detritus that washes up on the shore. Coenobita compressus prefers the odors of foods that they have not recently eaten. Hermit crabs exposed to one food for at least 9 hours preferred foods having other odors for the next 6 hours. This short-term avoidance of food (like human beings who get bored with the same meals over and over again) compels the crabs to seek out a wider range of food. This might be advantageous to the crabs, possibly through the consumption of a more nutritionally balanced diet. Ecuadorian hermit crabs can make a chirping sound to communicate with each other. Hermit crabs overall were once seen as a "throwaway pet" that would live only a few months, but species such as C. clypeatus have a 23-year lifespan if properly treated and some have lived longer than 32 years. Similarly, Ecuadorian hermit crabs have been known to live to over 30 years. In general, and despite their moniker, hermit crabs are social animals that do best in groups.
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