The Hermit Crab is a small crab that doesn’t grow its own shell, so it borrows empty ones from sea snails to protect its soft body. You can often spot them in rockpools, scuttling around with a shell on their back. As they grow, they have to find bigger shells, which sometimes leads to little “shell swaps” between crabs. Hermit crabs are important for keeping rockpools clean—they eat dead plants, animals, and leftover bits of food. They’re not harmful and play a useful role in the ecosystem as nature’s recyclers. Their quirky behaviour and moving homes make them one of the most fun creatures to watch in a rockpool. But they rely on empty shells to survive, so taking shells from the beach can actually harm them by leaving fewer safe homes for them to use.