Hermit crab hitchhiker or baby?

Today while I was adding my new power head to the tank I found a hermit crab halfway in/out of a shell and dead. Sad! I didn't recognize the shell, so I thought maybe the hermit was trying to get into a new shell and couldn't fit or something and then died. I looked around to figure out which crab it was, and all three of my hermit crabs were alive and kickin'. So, that weirded me out! It was some hermit I had never seen before.

I read online that hermit crabs don't breed in captivity, but could this have been a baby? Or are red hermit crabs common live rock hitch hikers? Seems like I would have noticed him before...

Just curious...it was weird!

Thanks!

 

It's possible he came in with a rock or a coral. I found a stone crab in my old 65g and he was nasty and ate my baby regal tang.

 

You sure it wasn't just a molt? I've made that mistake before, thinking a crab had died, only to see him walking around a few hours later!

 

+ 1 on that. I've confused a shed exoskeleton for a dead crab many times. Chances are if you have what looks like a dead crab, but there are none missing, that is what happened.

 

Really? What I found consisted of a body and four legs, but the legs were smaller than my current hermit crabs and paler in color. They were also stuck in a shell that none of my hermit crabs were wearing at the time. Does that sound like an exoskeleton? I didn't read about them shedding, so that could definitely be it! I'll look it up online. The main thing I wanted in my tank were hermit crabs, but now after having them, sometimes they really kinda gross me out!