FIGURE 7.35
The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is a large, land-dwelling hermit crab that doesnot use a shell as an adult (a ). Females return to seawater only to release their eggs. After a planktonicexistence, the young settle on the bottom and use shells for a home (b) as they crawl out of the sea tobegin life on land. Coconut crabs, so called because they often eat coconuts, are found in the tropicalPacific and Indian oceans. They have been known to reach 13.5 kg (30 lb) in weight, thus being thelargest and heaviest of all land arthropods