Greater Mediterranean hermit crabs

As most species of crabs Greater Mediterranean hermit crabs are susceptible to fights. Here you can admire the impact of Mike Tyson to the animal kingdom. (Video by Kostas Milonakis, unidentified if they are D.arrosor or D.calidus)


Dardanus calidus with some Calliactis parasitica on his shell.

Dardanus calidus

When you diving at Mediterranean you can meet two species of Big Hermit crabs (Bernard-l'ermites). The species Dardanus arrosor and Dardanus calidus can grow more than 6cm and both can be symbiotic with the anemone Calliactis parasitica. Unlike with the parasitic symbiosis that this anemone has with the Atlantic Hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus it is confirmed that D.arrosor assists the trasfer of C.parasitica to its shell. Also the same experiments showed that most of the D.arrosor that had accepted C.parasitica to their shell were females and males prefer to be on their own.