Past experience and shell use in hermit crabs: Shell exchange behavior

Abstract

Three species of hermit crabs (Calcinus tibecen, C. seurati, and Clibanarius zebra) were tested to see if recent experience with a type of shell influenced the ability of crabs to exchange shells according to the negotiations model of resource exchange (Hazlett, 1978). Crabs experienced one shell type for 30 days and were then transferred to either a familiar or unfamiliar shell type. Shell exchange activity was then observed and the predictive power of resource exchange models compared for crabs in familiar and unfamiliar shell types. When given a short accommodation period following transfer to a new shell and observed in a concrete tank, crabs in familiar shells followed the negotiations model while crabs without recent experience with a shell type did not. Crabs tested without an accommodation period or tested in glass aquaria did not behave in a predictable fashion when exchanging shells irrespective of their recent experience with shells.