Hermit crabs are unique crustaceans that have abandoned the typical body armor most crabs developed for protection from predators and physical stress ­— the exoskeleton body coverage. Instead, they find security inside the old shells of other animals and as they grow, they need to find new, larger shells to move into. During their reproductive season, the female carries the eggs, which are later fertilized by a male and continue their embryonic development in the safety of the female’s shell. In this image, hundreds of hatched baby hermit crabs come out of their mother's shell. In this larval stage, they look like tiny shrimps and begin their life drifting in the current as part of the plankton.