Hermit crabs are a decapod crustacean, meaning they have 10 (deca-) legs (pods) along with a hardened exoskeleton or shell. There are about 800 species worldwide with 11 found in Florida.

These crustaceans have been misnamed for two reasons: First, they’re not true crabs, like blue crabs, in that they don’t have a uniformly hard exoskeleton and can’t grow their own shells.