Video game creatures in the real world?: The Story of the Plastic shelled crab

I saw something incredible on the web that i wanted to share with you guys today. The incredibly cute "Toothpaste Cap Hermit Crab" equipping his plastic shell in an almost video-game like manner.

(photo 1: A hermit crab using a toothpaste crab as a shell)

While it is a bit of a departure from my usual content, i felt that the significance and implications of this picture is too great to ignore.

We have always viewed plastics as rubbish, something of a hindrance to animals around us. Its negative effects on the ecosystem especially in coastal bird populations have been extensively documented and with no uncertainty, we know that plastics is bad for ecosystem and the earth.

(Fig 2: plastic pollution in the gut of birds)

However, i have never stopped to think about how much plastic can affect animal behavior. Will animals in the future be able to adapt to the amount of pollution we humans produce everyday? I doubt so but i truly think that this is a question we should ponder on. Even if the answer to that is yes, it doesn't mean that we should continue plastic pollution.

Animals living within anthropogenic structures is not a phenomena of course. We see animals of all kinds from bird, bats adapt to urban environment as well as sea creatures using shipwrecks as a structure in which they grow in (the effects of which in the ecosystem is still being debated).

(fig 3: Bats in anthropogenic structures)

(Fig 4: Fish living in shipwrecks)

This particular photo grabbed my attention in a different way. I felt both sad and happy at the issue. Happy because it seems that the hermit crab is alive and is able to use the plastic as a self-defence mechanism. At the sad time, this photo is depressing because it shows us just how much of an impact that we have on the environment. It also suggest to us how polluted the beach must be such that the hermit crab would resort to using the toothpaste cap as a shell rather than using natural shells from its predecessor. To add to that, if this hermit crab were to be eaten by prey, it would be certainly the case that the plastic might be consumed by its predator thus leading to more damage to the ecosystem.

I hope that this photo provides us ample reason to act upon reducing plastic pollution in our environment

Photo sources

Bats in the Attic (Photographer) (N.D) Retrieved from

http://www.batsintheattic.org/photos.html

Douma, G. (photographer) (2012) Retreieved from

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17706609

HSmit (photographer) (2015). Retrieved from

http://imgur.com/seVWtP2

Jordan, C. (photographer)(2013). Retrieved from

http://chrisjordan.com

Interesting reads about plastics in the oceans

Kelly, M (2015) . "Why We Need to Wake Up and Do Something to Tackle Plastic Pollution in the Oceans". Retrieved from 

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/plastic-pollution-in-the-oceans/

Hasselberg, L (2014). " 22 things about plastics and 10 things we can do about it". Retrieved from

http://ecowatch.com/2014/04/07/22-facts-plastic-pollution-10-things-can-do-about-it/