Don't be a hermit, there's plenty to explore here!

On the evening of the fourth we begun work with hermit crabs! We were instructed to separate into three groups with our roommates. Each group was given 50 of the same shells. We were to label each shell with a “T” to indicate our room followed by the shell number 1-50 and 15 at the end to indicate the year. After labeling each of the shells with sharpie we were to put a bit of superglue on the marker to seal it on shell. Then we took four measurements of each shell using calipers. We took the length and width of the shell and the length and width of the aperture. There were four students in our group and we each took one of those measurements for all 50 shells. We worked like machines and finished fairly quickly with a great deal of accuracy. After measuring the shells each group chose a location to place their shells. We placed ours in the sand to the right of the pathway leading to the water from the dining area. Each morning we are to check the shells to see if any have been taken by crabs. If any shells are left we are to take the same shell measurements to determine the approximate size of the creature. The morning after we placed the shells, July 5, there were no takers. Our group felt slightly discouraged and thought we chose a poor location. The next morning however, we had a taker! A critter left a tulip shell and moved into shell #39! The shell it moved into had an aperture of about two millimeters larger than its original shell!

We placed the shells to the right of the pathway leading to the water from the dining area. They are about four and a half meters from the shore line.

This is the first shell that was recovered. We believe that some type of snail inhabited this tulip shell.

We took measurements in millimeters. The following values were recorded:
total length 47.73
total width 18.19
aperture length 9.36
aperture width 9.12
The shell it moved into was measured in milimeters and its values were
total length 36.85
total width 14.65
aperture length 13.41
aperture width 11.44