About Electric Blue Hermit Crab
Electric blue hermit crab — vivid cobalt legs on a small reef-safe scavenger. Eats algae and leftover food. Will fight over shells with other hermits and occasionally murder snails for theirs, so keep spare shells available.
Calcinus elegans, also known as the blue line hermit crab, is a small, tropical hermit crab.
Notes from the editors
What it looks like. Vivid cobalt-blue legs on a small reef hermit crab. More striking than the standard blue-leg, with a more uniform "electric" coloration.
In your tank. Same role as the standard blue-leg — algae and detritus cleanup. Will fight over shells; keep spares available. Will occasionally murder snails for their shells.
Care notes. Reef-safe with caution. Tropical-temperature only (does not tolerate cool tanks).
Sourcing and feeding. Wild-collected from Indo-Pacific reefs; mid-priced for a hermit ($5–15 each). Omnivore/scavenger — algae, leftover food, biofilm.
Care info is a starting point, not a guarantee. Individual specimens, water chemistry, and tankmate dynamics vary. Verify against multiple sources and adjust to what you observe. See our terms & disclaimers.
Related invertebrates
Sources & attribution
- Taxonomy and accepted name from the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS AphiaID 208679).
- Description content adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo: (c) Lisa Bennett, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY (via iNaturalist or Wikimedia Commons).