With this week’s new goal for ID-a-Thon, I proceeded to classify observations of molluscs. I saw two organisms classified as molluscs but which were actually hermit crabs. I pointed it out in a comment. The person who posted the observation replied that the observation was of the shell and that …

Thanks! What about for IDing? If I see a picture of a hermit crab, should I identify it as a hermit crab or should I identify the organism whose shell the hermit crab is using?

if the observer already made an ID, then you should follow that. If the observation has no ID at all, you can pick one and leave a comment for the observer

Hopefully they would leave a note. When I am entering multiple records with copies from a single picture I always drop a note about which bird or other creature I’m referring to.

Submitting and IDing Hermit Crab Observations

General

thebeachcomber January 5, 2026, 9:44am 2

It’s completely fine to upload an image of a hermit crab twice, once for the mollusc shell and once for the hermit crab itself

Topic		Replies	Views
Can the gastropod shells being worn by hermit crabs count as their own observations? General	8	766	June 1, 2022
Multiple observations of same plant or animal...what do I do? General question	6	1283	August 13, 2020
To merger duplicates or not to merge? That is my question? General question	8	205	December 31, 2024
Many people in group observing same organism General	18	798	March 10, 2025
Mutiple species in one picture General	7	458	August 24, 2022

Submitting and IDing Hermit Crab Observations

Related topics