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

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?

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, 10:48am 4

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

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Submitting and IDing Hermit Crab Observations

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