processes until they reach the final stages where they can occupy a small part of a broken snail shell. Eventually they become a juvenile hermit crab and start their hunt for a suitable shell. Diet and foraging Hermit crabs are scavengers, they will forage during the night for dead or injured animals and feed off their remains. They can also be found moving about in rock pools during the day. They sometimes partially bury themselves into the sediment and feed on the organic matter, as well as algae, immobile invertebrates and filtered plankton and food particles. They are detritus feeders and eat a fairly broad and assorted diet. The hermit crab has one large powerful pincer/ claw and one small one. The large pincer is strong enough to rip apart the hard outer parts and armour on some of its prey such as tough fish scales, and skeletons so that it can access the soft fleshy parts within and break them into small enough pieces to eat. Its large pincer tends to remove the food then the smaller chela acts as a scoop which collects up the organic or animal material, which is then transported to the mouth with the crabs third maxillipeds (the outermost mouth parts, they hold the food until its ready to be pushed into the mouth). This is because often the larger pincer is too big to complete this process. Hermit crabs sometimes brace themselves over their prey using their walking legs to make it easier to rip pieces of flesh away from the animal. They are real scavengers in the sense that they will try and consume as much as they can in a short period of time before larger scavengers come along and steal their food from them. Predators, parasites and diseases Because the hermit crab lives in the bottom of rock pools and ocean floors, and due to its size, its predator list is long. It is easy prey for the likes of fish, and octopus. Other crabs are also known to eat the smaller and more unprotected species, like the hermit crab, hence the need for shells to protect the soft body. Because the hermit crab "sifts" through the sediment at the bottom of the ocean, smaller invertebrates are known to utilize this as an opportunity for themselves. Shell trading Hermit crabs display quite interesting behaviours during the shell trading process. The