Hermit crabs living in plastic tubes by Shawn Miller

Posted on September 13, 2020 by Admin11

One of my favorite things to do is to go beachcombing after typhoons. Over the years, I have seen a significant increase in the amount of marine debris washed ashore. The trash is from all over the world, but the majority of it washes up from Korea, China, and Japan

The resourceful hermit crabs take full advantage of plastic tubes and twist top caps. They move into this valuable real estate and use it as a protective mobile home until they find a better option.

Hermit Crabs prefer to live in a natural seashell. Due to a decline in the number of seashells, the hermit crabs have to adapt with our trash to survive. Below are photographs of hermit crabs found naturally adapting with the plastic tubing.

Lucky was the first hermit crab I photographed adapting with plastic tubing. (2014)

The long plastic tubing slows down their movement. Not the ideal mobile home for a hermit crab.

Sometimes I find them living in clear plastic. Over time the plastic turns yellow and becomes brittle. Eventually, it will break up into microplastic.

Every hermit crab found adapting with our waste receives a new home (seashell). I bring a bucket with an assortment of shells with me on my beach hikes. The hermit crabs are placed in the bucket and make the switch. They get a better home and I keep the plastic.

I was surprised to find this small blueberry hermit crab using a jump rope handle as a mobile home. The crab switched into a tapestry turban shell (mts4n #29) immediately.

The hermit crab is one of the few animals that can successfully adapt with our waste. If you would like to learn more about hermit crabs adapting with our waste please check out my post on “Crabs With Beach Trash Homes” by Shawn M Miller.

This post is not to make people sad, guilty, or lose hope, It is to bring awareness to the ongoing trash problem in our oceans and on our shorelines. Hopefully, these images will inspire people to change.

My Mission: To Document and Preserve the Wildlife of the Ryukyu Islands. – If you would like to join my journey, check out my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/MakeTheSwitch4Nature

Your donations will help worldwide conservation initiatives as well as bringing solutions to the worldwide pollution issues on our beautiful shorelines. Thank you for your support. Shawn M Miller.

Gigantic Hermit Crabs Found On Okinawa

Posted on October 5, 2019 by Admin11

Last year, a friend and I stumbled upon a local beach with gigantic hermit crabs. All of the hermit crabs were found adapting with non-native seashells.

Indonesian hermit crab (Coenbita brevimanus)

Where did these shells come from? The shell shack

The shell shack is an old wooden shed filled with boxes of imported craft shells from the Philippines. The hermit crabs found an opening and took advantage of this real estate.

Polished muffin (Ryssota ovum)

The most abundant shell was the polished muffin (Ryssota ovum) land snail. This shell is native to the Philippines and is twice the size of any land snail on Okinawa. The muffin shell is a perfect mobile home for the land hermit crabs. It’s lightweight, durable and large.

perspective photograph

The hermit crabs were healthy and doing well. I didn’t see any hermit crabs adapting with plastic or any twist top caps.

Land hermit crab (Coenobita cavipes)

Land hermit crab (Coenobita cavipes)

I also found hermit crabs adapting with a variety of marine shells from the Philippines at the same location.

Babylonia arealata (Coenobita purpureus)

hexaplex cichoreum (Coenobita cavipes)

Volema carinifera (Coenobita cavipes)

Melanella candida (Coenobita purpureus)

Casmaria erinaceus (Coenobita purpureus)

hexaplex cichoreum (Coenobita purpureus)

Turbo chrysostomus (Coenobita purpureus)

Tonna sulcosa (Coenobita cavipes)

Learn more about hermit crabs and adaptive behavior ” Crabs with beach trash homes ”

My Mission: To Protect and Preserve the Wildlife of the Ryukyu Islands for Future Generations. – If you would like to join my journey, check out my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/MakeTheSwitch4Nature

Your donations will help conservation initiatives as well as bring solutions to the worldwide pollution issues on our beautiful shorelines. Thank you for your support, Shawn M Miller.

#MakeTheSwitch4Nature

Parasitic Isopods of the Ryukyu Islands

Posted on April 27, 2019 by Admin11

Scorpionfish, lionfish and stonefish all belong to the family Scorpaenidae. They all are well camouflaged and highly venomous. Their defensive spines can deliver a painful sting. It’s best to wear exposure protection and maintain good bouncy control to avoid getting envenomated by these ambush predators.

In the 1980’s Robert Bolland stumbled upon an interesting underwater find. He found a tiny undescribed isopod hitching a ride on a scorpionfish. 1984 the parasitic isopod Renocila bollandi from Okinawa was named after him.

Over the years I photographed a dozen of these orange Isopods (Renocilla bollandi)

I have always wondered,

What is the relationship between the two?
Is the relationship mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism?
Why does the isopod only prefer venomous fish (scorpionfish) as its host?
Why does the isopod always stay close to the eye?

See why they call it the bearded scorpionfish (Scorpaenopsis cirrhosa).

Learn more about the hazardous marine life of Okinawa.

Learn more about Robert Bolland and his research at The Okinawa Slug Site.

My Mission: To Document and Preserve the Wildlife of the Ryukyu Islands

This site is also designed to help people identify the beautiful animals of Okinawa, basically to serve as an online nature reference guide. If you would like to make a contribution to support my mission, please click on the donation link paypal.me/maketheswitch4nature

Your donations will help conservation initiatives as well as bring solutions to the worldwide pollution issues on our beautiful shorelines. Thank you for your support, Shawn M Miller.

#MakeTheSwitch4Nature

Get Fa-Millerized with the Nature of the Ryukyu Islands – – – – SUBSCRIBE BELOW

Searching for the Ryukyu Ghost Crab by Shawn Miller

Posted on September 19, 2018 by Admin11

Ghost crabs are one of the fastest terrestrial crabs on the planet. They live in burrows underneath the sand on the coastline. They are found scavenging for food early in the morning and late in the evening to avoid predators. These sand crabs can change colors to adapt to their environment. In Okinawa, we have two species of Ghost crabs, the Horn-eyed crab (Ocypode ceratophthalmus) and the Smooth-eyed ghost crab (Ocypode cordimanus).

Horn-eyed ghost crab at Maede flats

Ghost crabs have three ways to avoid predators.

Stay close to their burrow and retreat into it quickly.
Escape into the surf zone and burrow underneath the wet sand.
Stay still and slowly dig into the beach sand

Ghost crab burrow

Elusive ghost crab

These crabs have the ability to fold their eyes into grooves for protection.

Ghost crab - Fill flash and back-lighting Stella 200

Ghost crab & Stella 2000

This large ghost crab tried to intimidate me with its large claws and scary shadow.

The sand dwelling hunter

These crabs were photographed on white for the Meet Your Neighbours Biodiversity Project. The project is dedicated to connecting people worldwide with the wildlife in their communities. All images are used for conservation awareness and educational purposes.

MYN Biodiversity Project Japan.

Juvenile – Ocypode sp

The Juveniles can be extremely colorful depending on their surrounding environment. I have been finding more and more trash washed on the shoreline. Could the crabs possibly be adapting to the colors of the sounding marine debris washed ashore?

the Smooth-eyed ghost crab ( Ocypode cordimanus)

All ghost crabs are scavengers, mainly feeding on seaweed, fruit, seeds, other crabs, turtle hatchlings, and insects.

feeding on beetles

Feeding on a hermit crab

Feeding on a shrew

These crabs are beautiful creatures and hopefully, you will get the opportunity to see one in the wild.

Pink ghost crab

People often ask me what is the purpose of conservation photography? Having the ability to affect some form of positive change in the environment and make a global difference with the photographs. Hopefully, the images will inspire people to care more about nature and make a positive difference in the environment.

My Mission: To Document and Preserve the Wildlife of the Ryukyu Islands

Your donations will help conservation initiatives as well as bring solutions to the worldwide pollution issues on our beautiful shorelines. Thank you for your support, Shawn M Miller.

#MakeTheSwitch4Nature

Gall Crabs – Coral-Inhabiting Micro Crabs of Okinawa

Posted on June 16, 2018 by Admin11

Gall crabs are coral-dwelling crabs that spend their entire life living inside a hole of the hard coral. These micro crabs are only 7mm-10mm in size. They are hard to find and photograph due to their small size.

These tiny crabs are considered to be safe keepers or guardians of the hard coral. The gall crabs defend against coral eating predators such as starfish and snails. The coral provides shelter and food, making it an ideal habitat for the micro coral-dwelling gall crab. I have found these crabs in a variety of coral species in Okinawa. They are usually found in shallow water corals, but recently I found a healthy colony of crabs at sixty-five feet.

If you’re lucky you might see a gall crab searching for food during the night.

The only reason I found this beauty was because she was leaving the gall to release her eggs.

Some of the gall crabs fluoresce using the specialized Light & Motion Nightsea underwater blue light.

After the crabs die, the galls become a new shelter opportunity for snails, fish, and reef crabs.

Bicolor blenny in coral - fish of okinawa

I found this hard coral washed up on Iheya Island. Look close and you can see that hole made by the gall crab.

Stony coral and gall

My Mission: To Document and Preserve the Wildlife of the Ryukyu Islands

Your donations will help conservation initiatives as well as bring solutions to the worldwide pollution issues on our beautiful shorelines. Thank you for your support, Shawn M Miller.

#MakeTheSwitch4Nature

Okinawa Nature Photography

沖縄自然写真 By Shawn Miller

Tag Archives: Crustaceans of Okinawa

Hermit crabs living in plastic tubes by Shawn Miller

Gigantic Hermit Crabs Found On Okinawa

Parasitic Isopods of the Ryukyu Islands

Searching for the Ryukyu Ghost Crab by Shawn Miller

Gall Crabs – Coral-Inhabiting Micro Crabs of Okinawa