On the Case of Pagurus Bernhardus

Character: Bernhard's hermit crab (Pagurus bernhardus) Other common names - Soldier hermit crab, Soldier crab, Large hermit crab "As the Giants Grim of old spared not ordinary-sized men for any sympathy of race, so our giant Crab had no respect for lesser Crabs, except a taste for their flesh. I had two or three full-grown Soldier Crabs (Pagurus bernhardus); themselves warriors of no mean prowess; two, at least, of these fell a prey to the fierce Fiddler. His manner of proceeding was regular and methodical. Grasping the unthinking Soldier by the thorax, and crushing it so as to paralyse the creature, he dragged the body out of the protecting shell. The soft plump abdomen was the bonne louche; this was torn off and eaten with gusto, while the rest of the animal was wrenched limb from limb with savage wantonness, and the fragments scattered in front of his cave." From 'The Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea' (1854), by Philip Henry Gosse