{{Short description|Species of crustacean}} {{Speciesbox | image = Blue-banded Hermit Crab.jpg | image_caption = ''Pagurus samuelis'' using a shell of ''Tegula brunnea'' | taxon = Pagurus samuelis | authority = (Stimpson, 1857) | synonyms = ''Eupagurus samuelis'' <small>Stimpson, 1857</small> | synonyms_ref = <ref>{{cite web |author=Patsy McLaughlin |year=2010 |title=''Pagurus samuelis'' (Stimpson, 1857) |editor=P. McLaughlin |work=World Paguroidea database |publisher=World Register of Marine Species |url=http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=366786 |access-date=June 20, 2011}}</ref> }}
'''''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.
==Description== ''Pagurus samuelis'' is a small hermit crab, at up to a total length of {{convert|40|mm|abbr=on}} and a carapace width of up to {{convert|19|mm|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Simon"/> The base colour of the exoskeleton is brown or green,<ref name="Simon"/> but the antennae are red, and adults have bright blue bands near the tips of their legs.<ref name="BPT">{{cite book|title=Between Pacific Tides|author=Edward Flanders Ricketts, Jack Calvin & Joel Walker Hedgpeth|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=1992|isbn=978-0-8047-2068-7|edition=5th|pages=[https://archive.org/details/betweenpacificti0000rick/page/37 37–210]|chapter=Protected outer coast|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tUl5ESavtRIC&pg=PA37}}</ref> In smaller individuals, the bands may be white.<ref name="Simon"/> The legs and carapace are covered in setae, and the rostrum at the front of the carapace is triangular.<ref name="Simon"/> <gallery mode=packed heights=200px> Pagurus samuelis-Tegula eiseni.jpg|In a shell of ''Tegula eiseni'' Pagurus samuelis-Tegula gallina.jpg|In a shell of ''Tegula gallina'' </gallery>
==Distribution== ''Pagurus samuelis'' is found from Alaska to Punta Eugenia in Baja California, Mexico. It was formerly thought to also occur in Japan, but the Japanese specimens which were formerly assigned to this species are now recognised as ''Pagurus filholi''.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Patsy A. McLaughlin |year=1976 |title=A new Japanese hermit crab (Decapoda, Paguridae) resembling ''Pagurus samuelis'' (Stimpson) |journal=Crustaceana |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=13–26 |jstor=20102284 |doi=10.1163/156854076X00341}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=L. Sandberg & P. A. McLaughlin |year=1993 |title=Reexamination of ''Pagurus minutus'' Hess, 1865, and ''Pagurus filholi'' (de Man, 1887) (Crustacea: Anomura: Paguridae) |journal=Zoologische Mededelingen |volume=67 |issue=13 |pages=197–206 |url=http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/document/150172 |format=PDF}}</ref>
==Ecology and life cycle== [[File:Hermit crabs scavenge at Gumboot chiton 2.jpg|thumb|''Pagurus samuelis'' and live ''Tegula funebralis'' feeding on a dead gumboot chiton]]''Pagurus samuelis'' prefers to use the discarded shell of the black turban snail, ''Tegula funebralis''.<ref name="Simon">{{cite web |url=http://www.sanctuarysimon.org/species/species_info.php?speciesID=853&search=genus |title=''Pagurus samuelis'' – blueband hermit crab |work=Sanctuary Integrated Monitoring System |publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |access-date=June 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315032931/http://www.sanctuarysimon.org/species/species_info.php?speciesID=853&search=genus |archive-date=March 15, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> They are chiefly nocturnal scavengers that feed on algae, especially the giant kelp ''Macrocystis pyrifera'', and detritus.<ref name="Simon"/> In a laboratory setting, ''P. samuelis'' can survive on a diet of ''Pelvetia canaliculata''.<ref name="Simon"/> Predators of ''P. samuelis'' include fishes such as the pile perch (''Rhacochilus vacca''), California sheephead (''Semicossyphus pulcher'') and the spotted kelpfish, ''Gibbonsia elegans''.<ref name="Simon"/>
In the breeding season, males carry females on their backs, sometimes for more than a day.<ref name="BPT"/> Eggs are produced from May to July, and are carried on the female's abdomen, inside the shell.<ref name="BPT"/>
==See also== *''Pagurus hirsutiusculus''
==References== {{Reflist|32em}}
==External links== *{{cite web |url=http://bcbiodiversity.lifedesks.org/pages/19822 |title=''Pagurus samuelis'' (Stimpson 1857) |work=Marine Biodiversity of British Columbia |publisher=LifeDesks |author=Jocelyn Nelson |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415101415/http://bcbiodiversity.lifedesks.org/pages/19822 |archive-date=2013-04-15 }} *{{cite web |url=http://seanet.stanford.edu/RockyShore/Crustacea/index.html#Pagurus_samuelis |title=''Pagurus samuelis'' (Stimpson, 1857) |work=Common Intertidal Organisms of Monterey Bay |author=J. M. Watanabe |date=March 11, 2010 |access-date=June 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720050033/http://seanet.stanford.edu/RockyShore/Crustacea/index.html#Pagurus_samuelis |archive-date=July 20, 2011 |url-status=dead }} *{{cite web |url=http://www.wallawalla.edu/academics/departments/biology/rosario/inverts/Arthropoda/Crustacea/Malacostraca/Eumalacostraca/Eucarida/Decapoda/Anomura/Family_Paguridae/Pagurus_samuelis.html |title=''Pagurus samuelis'' (Stimpson, 1857) |work=Key to Invertebrates Found At or Near The Rosario Beach Marine Laboratory (a campus of Walla Walla University) Fidalgo Island, Anacortes, WA |author=Dave Cowles |year=2005 |publisher=Walla Walla University |access-date=2011-06-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115062703/http://www.wallawalla.edu/academics/departments/biology/rosario/inverts/Arthropoda/Crustacea/Malacostraca/Eumalacostraca/Eucarida/Decapoda/Anomura/Family_Paguridae/Pagurus_samuelis.html |archive-date=2010-11-15 |url-status=dead }} *{{Commons category-inline|Pagurus samuelis|''Pagurus samuelis''}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q3360483}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Hermit crabs Category:Crustaceans of the eastern Pacific Ocean Category:Crustaceans described in 1857