Hermit crabs are using trash as shells | Hacker News Reader

Hermit crabs are using trash as shells

bbc.com

57 pointscarabiner29 comments

This isn't a new discovery by any means. Hermit crabs will take any home they can fit their butt in to prevent getting eaten. They prefer real shells but there's often a limited supply. If anything the trash is supporting a larger hermit crab population.

"Real shells" are just non-anthropogenic trash. You'd think all those snails etc would clean up after themselves but they just leave their mess wherever apoptosis occurs.

Fish poop and piss where they sleep. Have you ever watched the average ocean dweller's mating process? They just gush and let the tide take it away. Ever thought to yourself what sea foam is made of? The stuff cresting picturesque waves? It's all sorts of organic gunk left over from previously mentioned biological processes… Oceans are icky.

I was just saying similar about human waste removal [0]. Dropping waste into water was a good idea in the 1700's but you'd think we'd have figured out a better way by now. Humanity is little removed from fish in this regard--although they have the advantage of doing it while they sleep at least.

0. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39131856#39132574

Biodigestion (1) is that better way. It can be done domestically or municipally, and produces heat, fertilizer, and fuel.

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwm5Rm8uIsk

Agreed as long as the biodigestion occurs in a non-cross contaminating manner.

I've had a friend who refuses to drink water after learning that whales ejaculate gallons of semen.

Is there any evidence they prefer the trash to real shells? This could be a sign of shell shortages, maybe a consequence of increasing ocean acidity, or a boom in hermit crab populations.

I don't see the problem. Used correctly, even trash can contribute positively to ocean like all the ships we scuttle to build reefs on.

Edit: from TFA: > The researcher said that the natural snail shells were in decline, so she suspected it might be becoming easier for the animals to find an artificial alternative. And lighter, plastic 'shells' might even help smaller, weaker crabs to survive because they are easier to carry.

> I don't see the problem.

It's (more) evidence of the (increasing?) extent of the ecological impact of humanity and human societies. We (humans) have proved over and over again that we have a very poor ability to understand the greater consequences of any changes, human-induced or not, to the natural environment. So the fact that we are having an unforeseen impact on the environment should be cause for concern, if not alarm.

That's not to say that when we make deliberate changes to the natural environment we have a good track record. See: e.g. cane toads in Australia[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toads_in_Australia

On the other hand you don’t really want your kids to have to worry about wolves on their way to school. So I don’t think the zero environmental impact is the target either.

> So the fact that we are having an unforeseen impact on the environment should be cause for concern, if not alarm.

The environment has never been stable, not once in the history of the environment. It is constantly changing. The only way we could avoid having an unforeseen impact is if we wipe the environment out.

As is stands, we're having a milder impact than one of the big ones like blue-green algae and the oxygen crisis. I'd go as far as saying the hermit crabs are pretty happy with how this situation is developing. Plastic shells sound like a pretty high tech option for the happening hermit.

> The environment has never been stable, not once in the history of the environment. It is constantly changing.

You are making a false equivalence here. That fact that the environment changes naturally does not mean, that it doesn't matter how we influence it.

> As is stands, we're having a milder impact than one of the big ones like blue-green algae and the oxygen crisis.

That's a pretty low standard to hold us to. Also, you're writing as if we had no agency in this, but one look at consoomer culture will suffice to convince you of the exact opposite...

Shell shortages. that is a first. Time to get this trending on twitter.

Somewhat related:

I did a thing - I made hermit crabs armor then released them!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYZUBG-YLc0

They choose and often swap shells.

Who knows, this could just be a fad. The more conservative crabs probably mock these youngsters for their flashy colors, even though human offcast glass and aluminum are probably lighter, stronger, objectively better for the purpose the crabs have.

The old ways, living in the corpses of your neighbors, were better.

Zillenial crabs making fun of all their boomer predecessors stuck in the old ways. Corpse shells doesn't even have wifi.

I used to have one. Outgrew its shell and found a home in a vertical plastic tube that was part of the gravel underlay system - therefore, could no longer move around. I had to get a dozen other shells from the pet shop to give it something else to move into.

> This internet-based ecological study, revealed that this use of artificial shells is a "global phenomenon". "We saw it in two-thirds of all terrestrial hermit crab species," said Prof Szulkin. "That's what we could identify just by using pictures taken by tourists."

That’s going to be biased. Social media users are probably more likely to post about hermit crab with human made shells.

"One man's trash is another man's treasure" as the saying goes. Doesn't just apply to humans.

The kajillions of animals that have choked on trash would like a say in this.

I wonder if they’ll start to select for variety of trash? what will be the most effective against predators? Aluminum lightbulb end or plastic bottle cap

Are they weirdly better off with these new bits of armor?

The alternative is to use a snail carcass as a shell.

How big does a plastic item need to be a "piece" of plastic? Does a bottle cap count? Does a micro plastic count?

Hermit crabs will absolutely use a plastic bottle top and it’s really adorable. My aunt had two “pet” hermit crabs when I was a kid. Really cool little creatures to play with and love on.

https://invidious.lunar.icu/watch?v=ETz0IZBRzfs&listen=0

You can actually see how the hermit crab holds its back legs inside of the bottle cap, quite cute!

Simpsons did this already.

New armor

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