Painted Hermit Crabs

Painted Hermit Crabs in a head of coral in Hawaii

I spotted activity in a head of coral and thought I’d found another batch of Isabelle’s Hermit Crabs (here). But even as I took photos, I thought the color of the legs wasn’t quite right. This proved to be the case. Instead, these are Painted Hermit Crabs, a species endemic to Hawaii. The shells occupied here are probably from one of the marine snails known as drupes, Grape Morulas being a possibility.

The Numbers Game #78

Clouds make a blanket between the slopes of Mauna Kea and Maui.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 199. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

Monday portrait

A wild pig tackles a mango in Hawaii

The mango tree is dropping fruit, which means that the numerous wild pigs around here are stopping by on a regular basis to scarf them up. This is one of them, or is it? A tag in the ear usually indicates a domesticated animal, but this one was roaming with the other wild pigs. An escapee perhaps? Part of a scientific study?

But them I looked at the tag again, 004. Surely, this means the pig is a British secret agent, probably sent to check up on me and make sure I’m drinking enough tea and not bad-mouthing the king. Hopefully, he’s not yet licensed to kill, just to eat mangoes.

A wild pig tackles a mango in HawaiiA wild pig tackles a mango in Hawaii