Tran also found, on the other hand, that the hermit crabs were slightly quicker to approach dead crabs of different species, and that they also spent more time eating those less-related crabs.

None of the roughly 850 known hermit crab species, most of which live in the sea and some on land, can grow their own shells. Instead, the crabs occupy shells originally left behind by dead snails.

Hermit crab gatherings may look like a funeral, but they have a selfish purpose. Bryan Nelson is a science writer and award-winning documentary filmmaker with over a decade of experience covering ...

There’s only one freshwater hermit crab, Clibanarius fonticola, which is native to Vanuatu. Hermit crabs are omnivorous scavengers, eating microscopic mussels and clams, bits of dead animals ...

A hermit crab (Pylopagurus discoidalis) Barry Brown Email Douglas Main or follow him @Douglas_Main. Follow us @OAPlanet, Facebook or Google+. Original article on LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.