#4543 · 🦀 crabs & other crustaceans
Blueband Hermit Crab
Pagurus samuelis
8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
Pagurus samuelis , the blueband hermit crab , is a species of hermit crab from the west coast of North America, and the most common hermit crab in California. It is a small species, with distinctive blue bands on its legs. It prefers to live in the shell of the black turban snail, and is a nocturnal scavenger of algae and carrion.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 11,590 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by William Stimpson in 1857 (169 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Blueband Hermit Crab
- scientific name
- Pagurus samuelis
- class
- Malacostraca
- order
- Decapoda
- family
- Paguridae
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings worldwide
- 11,590
- GBIF records in NL
- 0
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1857 by William Stimpson
relatives· Paguridae
#4450 📷 7Common Hermit Crab
🇳🇱 Gewone Heremietkreeft
Pagurus bernhardus
👀 209 in NL
#4500 📷 7Long-claw Hermit Crab
🇳🇱 Gemaskerde heremietkreeft
Pagurus longicarpus
👀 4 in NL
#4548 📷 10Pacific Hairy Hermit Crab
Pagurus hirsutiusculus
🌍 9.2k seen
#4527 📷 10Striped Hermit Crab
🇳🇱 Middellandse Zeeheremietkreeft
Pagurus anachoretus
🌍 1.4k seen
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 49095, Wikidata Q3360483, GBIF 2224230, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.