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 …

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

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

cristinamontes January 5, 2026, 9:48am 3

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?

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Submitting and IDing Hermit Crab Observations

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