Akademik

small soft-bodied marine crustaceans living in cast-off shells of gastropods

noun, pl ⋯ crabs [count]

: a type of crab that lives in the empty shell of another animal (such as a snail)

ˈhermit crab f38 [hermit crab hermit crabs] noun

a ↑crab (= a sea creature with eight legs and, usually, a hard shell) that has no shell of its own and has to use the empty shells of other sea creatures