article_snippet: Researchers have found that the shyest males actually have the most to offer a potential lover - at least in the world of hermit crabs.
article_snippet: Hermit crabs, like the ones above, borrow the shells from other creatures to keep Hermit crabs safe and new research has shown that those crabs that stay in Hermit crabs shells more often tend to be a better mate for female crabs .
article_snippet: Professor Mark Briffa, a marine animal behaviour researcher at Plymouth University, and his colleagues have found that the most timid crabs tend to more high quality sperm - making the most timid crabs a better option for females looking for a mate.
article_snippet: This, Professor Mark Briffa, a marine animal behaviour researcher at Plymouth University, and his colleagues say, is because the crabs that spend more time hiding from the world inside Professor Mark Briffa, a marine animal behaviour researcher at Plymouth University, and his colleagues shells, also have invested the most resources in becoming reproductively fit.
article_snippet: Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Professor Briffa and his colleagues said: 'It appears that in hermit crabs, high-quality individuals that have invested heavily in reproduction, by making large spermatophores, are the most risk averse. '
article_snippet: Hermit crabs, like the one pictured above, hide in Hermit crabs when startled, but the one pictured above also helps Hermit crabs become better mates .
article_snippet: Again The researchers found in the crabs, those that were slower to reemerge from The researchers shells after being frightened, had larger spermatophores and so more high quality sperm stored.
article_snippet: As The researchers grow, hermit crabs like the one above, 'upgrade' The researchers shells by seeking out larger ones as finding the right home can offer The researchers protection from danger but also give The researchers a way of growing better stores of sperm .
article_snippet: Professor Briffa and his colleagues said that hiding in the shell when threatened may allow the crabs to conserve the crabs energy for building up greater sperm reserves.
article_snippet: hiding in the shell when threatened may allow the crabs to conserve their energy for building up greater sperm reserves also reduces the risk of losing a shell in a fight with another crab, something that can increase the amount of stress a crab is exposed to.
article_snippet: Professor Briffa and his colleagues said that in hermit crabs less reproductively fit individuals may develop boldness to help less reproductively fit individuals compete with the shier more fertile crabs.
highlights_snippet: Biologists at Plymouth University found shyer crabs had larger packets of sperm than the bolder ones .
  
highlights_snippet: Scientists say hiding allows crabs to invest more energy in making sperm .