Ethics of hermit crabs that outgrow their native shells.

[knifegill]

These amazing little local hermit crabs are not living their lives out because the native species of snail are too small to accommodate their size. Yes, once they outgrow their last largest shell (under an inch long) they become easy prey with their soft bodies exposed to the world. I'm curious about the species. A very easy adaption to make, as the smallest and longest-surviving members should be producing the most offspring thereby slighting the gene pool toward the smallest mature specimens and eventually stopping the max size at the native snail species. But if provided a larger shell, the hermit takes it and continues to grow. So, wtf nature? Why are you doing this?

And, aside from obvious legality, how does it pan out ethically to provide the doomed hermit with a bigger shell and allow it to live? We are depriving a greedy seagull of one bite of food while allowing another creature to live many more years of quality life. How do you weigh in?

 

[flowerpower]

It would be cool to see just how big one would get in captivity.

 

[jclyde13]

I don't understand what you're asking and am just going to blab about legality.


Except I'm really not going to do too much legality-blabbing since I'm not even sure what you're talking about, but it sounds like you are suggesting something illegal, so no, I don't think it's okay.

100% of the poll voters agree with me so far.

 

[knifegill]

No, I'm not suggesting something illegal. I'm wondering what people think about the situation. I mean, imagine if there were kittens that got eaten by coyotes once they got too big to hide. I can't think of a more accurate analogy since this hermit situation is pretty odd.

Has nature failed these hermits? Or does nature just want more edible hermits around for everyone to enjoy feasting on?

 

[jclyde13]

I mean, imagine if there were kittens that got eaten by coyotes once they got too big to hide. I can't think of a more accurate analogy

Here's a more accurate analogy: imagine if there were squirrels that got eaten by coyotes once they got too big to hide.

But anyway, I do think that natural selection will occur and eventually they will stop growing so large, but natural selection occurs over a period of many years, not days or weeks, so it's not like you are just going to notice one day that all of a sudden the hermit crabs have stopped dying.

 

[rizzle]

i knw what you mean in a way i mean when i snorkel in the ocean here in the summer their is all kinds of small saltwater hermit crabs but never any big ones like wtf i sumtimes see big empty shells but mostly just small shelled hermits crawling around ...

 

[Gahandi]

i reckon it's alright to take one or two, i mean, if they're just gonna die anyway i cant see the harm in removing a couple. The seagulls'll just harass someone eating chips instead.

 

[MonsterMinis]

Nature has it's reasons even if we don't understand them. We humans tend to get in natures way the more we try to help it. likely the hermits play an important role of the food chain, that most people don't understand. Generally we focus on the apex predators in nature and forget the chain itself. Likely there is some mechanic at work that these crabs sustain a species that relys on their particular "unfortunate circumstance" be it small or large. It may be as simple as evolution at work.. or something else in what the hermits do that keeps their populations doing what they do. It's also possible a species of snail that did grow larger, was impacted. which in turn impacted the hermits. imo the likely situation.

as for the legality side, if it's illgal to collect them, then naturally don't. otherwise harvesting them for the trade.. no different then how we get most of our exotic fish/pets.