Soldiering on

When I was about 10, we took a weekend trip to a fabulously deliciously cool place a few hours away from Bombay. This was Nasik, and it was here by the beach that I found a beautiful shell, about half the size of my thumb. I pocketed it and after a day or so, took it out to inspect it. It looked like there was something peeking out of it, so being 10, I yanked it out. What I did find startled and scared me, that I threw both the inhabitant and the shell as far as I could. At the time, I had no idea what that was. The passing of time has taught me that that was a Hermit Crab.

It's been years since I have encountered another one of these and this one is far bigger, and it's inhabitants much more so. There will be no displacing of any kind here. It also goes by a different name - the Soldier Crab and are no bigger than your palm. Some people eat them, but hey, whatever floats their boat. This was taken at Cayman Brac, during our first trip to the sister island in late January. Taken with my new Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 Underwater Camera, because I busted up the previous model.