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Along with assistance from undergraduate students, I am collecting data on the shell use patterns and population dynamics of Pagurus granosimanus, P. hirsutiusculus and Isocheles pilosus in the Santa Cruz and Moss Landing areas of Monterey Bay, California.

Santa Cruz

Carmel

As components of marine food chains, hermit crabs represent an important part of benthic and intertidal communities. Reproduction, abundance, size and behavior can all be influenced by the types and supply of shells available to hermit crabs, so an understanding of how shell resources are used is an important part of understanding how populations of hermit crabs change over time. The species inhabiting the inshore of the Monterey Bay area are good representatives for the study of comparative population ecology.

I was joined by April Sjoboen and Joe Earl for three weeks of intense field collections of hermit crabs along the rocky sites we had chosen.

Collected hermit crabs were brought back to the lab at Monterey Bay Academy, weighed and removed from their shells. Several morphometric measurements were taken of each crab and its shell, including animal weight, shield length, sex, shell aperture length and width and shell species. Once measurements had been completed, all crabs were returned to the sites from which they had been collected. With the efficient assistance of April and Joe, population data was gathered on some 504 hermit crabs and field counts of 2062 snails were completed.

During the school year of 2003-2004, Marine Biology students at Monterey Bay Academy volunteered their class time once each month to collect morphometric data on the hermit crabs, Pagurus samuelis and Pagurus hirsutiusculus. Students participated as part of the Loma Linda University SURP program on the population dynamics of these species along the coast of Santa Cruz in the Monterey Bay area. The project was under the direction of Scientific Advisor, April Sjoboen, who completed her Masters degree at Loma Linda University in 2008.

Can you find Mr. Schultz? He's almost an intertidal organism, himself! Way to go Schultz!		Maritza working intently on drying hermit crabs.
Katie is tickling the hermit crab in a brave attempt to get it out of its shell.		Is it a male or female? Nick hands the hermit crab to Mr. Schultz to find out.
Nick measures the carapace length of one hermit crab while Mr. Schultz snaps photos of another one.		Maritza and Danny work efficiently to dry the hermit crabs and record their mass.