Andrey Borisov / mediadrumworld.com

By Rebecca Drew

UNUSUAL pictures show a hermit crab picking out a quirky glass bottle home after growing out of its old coconut shell.

Andrey Borisov / mediadrumworld.com

 

The spectacular photographs show the crab comfortably fitting inside a coconut shell and attempting to squeeze into a glass bottle before scuttling away with the bottle attached.

The images were taken in the Maldives, by IT specialist Andrey Borisov (38) from Moscow, Russia.

Andrey Borisov / mediadrumworld.com

 

“This was the first time that I saw behaviour like this and it was the first time that I saw a crab as big as this one,” said Andrey.

“It was as big as a fist of an adult man which is unusual.

Andrey Borisov / mediadrumworld.com

 

“Usually the crabs use the shells as their “home” and change shells when they are getting too tight.

Andrey Borisov / mediadrumworld.com

 

“It looks like it’s not that easy to find a big enough shell in the Maldives and that’s why the crabs are trying to fit to anything relatively suitable.”

Andrey Borisov / mediadrumworld.com

 

Hermit crabs have soft abdomens that make them vulnerable to predators. To combat this, the crabs search for a suitable shell to live in and once they grow out of a shell they look for another. They usually use sea snail shells.

In the wild, hermit crabs can live in groups of more than one-hundred.