Its colour ranges from intense red to golden yellow. It has white hairy bristles that extend from under its distinct yellow legs.[2] Its shield is marked with a series of furrows.[3]
The hermit crab's width can reach up to 10cm (3.9in).[4] Charles H. Edmonson of the Honolulu Bishop Museum gave it the name "maximus" or "the greatest" to describes its large size, as its known to grow up to the size of a hand.[2]
Distribution
It is found in the Indo-Pacific region[5] and inhabit the Benthic zone[6] which ranges from 10 – 100 meters deep.[7] They are most commonly found at depths of 50 feet or deeper and habit ledges or caves.[2] At shallower depths of their habitat range (around 15 meters deep) they have been observed on coral reefs, rock reefs, and barrel sponges.[4]
It tends to feed on mollusks and has been seen killing them over a range of days for their shell.[2] Aside from mollusks, the hairy yellow hermit crab is an omnivore and will eat algae or other meat it can find.[4]
Reproduction
The mating process of Aniculus maximus begins with a ritual initiated by olfactory and tactile indicators.[6] It reproduces sexually and indirectly through the use of spermatophores.[8] After mating, the female hermit crab keeps the fertilized eggs inside the underside of her shell. The eggs hatch into planktonic larvae that find shells of their own once mature enough.[4]
Edmondson, C.H. (1952). Additional Central Pacific crustaceans. Occasional Papers of the Bernice P.Bishop Museum. 21: 67–86.
Reay, P.J. & J. Haig (1990). Coastal hermit crabs (Decapoda: Anomura) from Kenya, with a review and key to East African species. Bulletin of Marine Science 46(3): 578–589
Liu, J.Y. [Ruiyu] (ed.). (2008). Checklist of marine biota of China seas. China Science Press. 1267 pp.
McLaughlin, P. A., Komai, T., Lemaitre, R. & Rahayu, D.L. (2010). Annotated checklist of anomuran decapod crustaceans of the world (exclusive of the Kiwaoidea and families Chirostylidae and Galatheidae of the Galatheoidea). Part I — Lithodoidea, Lomisoidea and Paguroidea. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Supplement 23: 5–107
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