The hermit crabs that live in the coastal waters and along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and the mid-Atlantic coast are crustaceans belonging to the family Paguridae. Hermit crabs use a borrowed shell (they're also called "robber crabs") to protect their abdomens, which lack an exoskeleton. Although there are a few terrestrial species, such as the land hermit crab (Coenobita clypeatus, in the same family as the coconut crab), which lives above the high-tide line from southern Florida to the West Indies, most of the approximately 500 species of hermit crabs are marine invertebrates that spend their lives in the littoral zone. Like many other crab species, they are omnivorous and will consume plant and animal detritus as well as live benthic organisms.

Hermit crabs have soft abdomens which require the protection of a shell. They do not make their own shell, therefore as they grow they must find larger shells to occupy. Their lives are spent searching for and occupying shells of other animals. The hermit crab in this picture is donning a whelk's shell. Other crab species found in the Virgin Islands include the ghost crab that can be seen quickly moving along beaches and a few species of land crabs that burrow into the ground and can often be seen at night or just peering out of their holes in the day.Shells over 4" in size (+10 cm)

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