♪ We're off to the forest to see Miss Jean ♪ ♪ She lives in a house that is mostly green ♪ ♪ Except for the chimney and windows and walls ♪ ♪ And one or two places just down the halls ♪ ♪ It's filled with rabbits and newts and snails ♪ ♪ And fat little puppies that wag their tails ♪ ♪ A whale, a tiger, and elephants too ♪ - [Boy] Well, maybe not elephants.

[Jean] Hi, how are you this afternoon?

That's fine.

Would you like to talk about invertebrates today?

That's a pretty fancy word, isn't it?

And I bet you really know it means animals that don't have any backbones.

And you know a lot of animals like that.

In fact, I have a nice new story about an invertebrate, a jellyfish.

Did you see any jellyfish at the beach this summer?

I hope you just saw them and didn't get touched by them.

(chuckles) Alan and Elizabeth are here again, and I have a new visitor, Charles Hankey, who came all the way from Littlestown, Pennsylvania.

And that's a long ways away from Hodgepodge Lodge, isn't it, Charles?

- [Charles] Yes.

[Jean] I'm glad you could make it.

And Charles brought a friend of his with him, we'll see him later.

Are you kids all ready to hear this new story?

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- [Elizabeth] You know what?

[Jean] Have you ever had any experiences with jellyfish?

- [Charles] Uh-uh.

[Jean] Never?

Oh, you're lucky.

How about you, Elizabeth?

- [Elizabeth] Well, I found many pieces of ones, and I've seen a live one, I tried to catch it with a bucket and I got it in, and I don't think it liked it that much.

[Jean] No, very-- - [Elizabeth] It looked like clear, they looked like frog eggs.

But they're flat.

- They're mushy.

[Elizabeth] And they don't have the little black eggs in 'em.

[Jean] Right, they're best to look at when they're in the water and they're not bothering you.

- Yes.

[Jean] Well, let's hear of what happened to Tristram, the lonely jellyfish, okay?

Tristram was running away from home.

Because he was a jellyfish, he didn't need to pack a suitcase or buy a ticket.

All Tristram had to do was fill his body cavity with ocean water, then squeeze himself together.

In and out, in and out.

Soon his pale orange body was far from the jellyfish community, and Tristram could float with the tide as he thought about the day just passed, and about why he'd run away.

It started in the spring with all the excited jellyfish gossip about going to the beach once summer came.

The excursion should've been fun, but it wasn't, not at all.

The very first time Tristram wrapped his tentacles playfully around a boy's leg, the boy thrashed and yelled until Tristram had to let go.

After that, whenever he swam toward a group of children, they screamed and ran off.

Tristram was puzzled.

Why didn't the children want to play with him?

Then, he remembered the stingers in his tentacles.

He knew they must've hurt the children.

He felt ashamed because the jellyfish game was a bad game.

The other jellyfish didn't seem to care.

They rushed gleefully at unsuspecting swimmers while Tristram swam to one side.

Later, they bragged about the people they'd stung.

Tristram fluttered on the fringes of the group until Marmaduke, the leader ask, "And how many did you sting, Tristram?"

Tristram bobbed up and down on a wave.

He turned bright orange in embarrassment.

"One," he mumbled, "I don't like stinging things."

"Doesn't want to sting?"

The shocked whisper rippled through the crowd.

Marmaduke bubbled impatiently, "Spineless, "that's the only word for you.

"Where's your backbone?"

The other jellyfish took up the taunt.

Tristram swam away with a cry of "Spineless" vibrating the water around him.

On the second day of his running away, Tristram stretched his bell-shaped body until the tips of his tentacles tingled.

He tried to decide where he should go.

Suddenly, the ocean shook with a strange sound.

♪ Yo ho heave ho, yo ho heave ho ♪ Tristram quivered in excitement as a mysterious bell-shaped, shell-shaped ship with 1000 dangling tentacles appeared.

He'd heard the other jellyfish talk about Portuguese man of war, but this was the first one he'd ever been near.

Tristram swam toward the man-of-war.

Perhaps the crew would take him on board.

But the captain had no place for an ordinary jellyfish.

"You're a mere Scyphozoa.

"We recruit only Physalia," the captain explained.

He took Tristram on a tour of the ship and showed him how every crew member had a special chore.

Some gathered food, some protected the ship, each member had a body particularly shaped for his job.

"You just wouldn't fit in," the captain said kindly.

Tristram looked at his own transparent body with its long tube of a mouth and it's lace like oral arms.

The captain was right, he looked like every other jellyfish.

When the captain signaled to the crew, the sea chant began.

♪ Yo ho heave ho ♪ The man-of-war sailed serenely on.

Tristram was alone in the wide ocean.

He sighed, emptying the water from his body and floating toward the ocean floor.

He guessed he would have to get used to being alone.

Just as he was feeling most sorry for himself, a strange thing happened.

A small silver fish flashed by with a great gray fish in pursuit.

Before Tristram could warn him about the stingers, the small fish had zipped into the web of his tentacles.

Tristram held very still as the gray fish circled him hungrily, then flipped his tail fin haughtily and swam away.

The small fish tried to thank Tristram.

"You were very brave to help me."

Tristram thought for a moment, "If I've been brave, "then the other jellyfish were wrong to call me spineless, weren't they?"

"You're not a coward, but you are spineless.

"All jellyfish are, you are invertebrates.

"Perhaps the others were only teasing you."

Tristram colored bright orange.

Maybe it'd all been a joke and he could return to his jellyfish home, but did he want to?

He thought of their games at the beach, at the way they'd made fun of him, no, he couldn't go back.

"I'm different," he said.

"I don't wanna hurt anybody with my stingers."

"You can't hurt me and fish like me," the silver fish said.

He told Tristram how frightening the great sea was for him and his family.

"The big fish are afraid of you, "but we could be your friends.

"We could keep you a company and you could protect us."

Tristram thought it was a fine idea.

"We might all be very happy," he said enthusiastically.

And they were.

Wasn't that a good jellyfish story?

- Yes.

[Jean] I don't think, I've ever heard a jellyfish story before.

(laughing) Most people don't think there's anything nice to say about jellyfish, they just get mad at them when they get stung at the ocean.

But, was this story a true story or... - [Elizabeth] A false.

[Jean] A pretend story?

- Made up story.

- [Elizabeth] It was a fairy tale.

[Jean] It was sort of a fairy tale, right?

But it was a fun story.

- [Elizabeth] You know, in the ocean, I find lots of jelly fish, I just catch, well sort of, jump over 'cause they keep on swimming near me and I just jump over them.

[Jean] Well, that's a good way to avoid them.

Well, what kind of animals are jellyfish?

- [Alan, Elizabeth, Charles]Invertebrates?

[Jean] Invertebrates, and Charles brought invertebrate with him.

Let's take a look at your friend Charles, and tell us, tell us the story.

First of all, what's his name and what kind of animal is he?

- [Charles] His name's Herman.

[Jean] Herman.

(laughs) And what is he?

- [Charles] He's a hermit crab.

[Jean] A hermit crab?

Why is he called a "hermit crab?"

- [Charles] Well, he lives on land.

[Jean] He lives on land, right.

And does he have his own shell?

- [Charles] No, he takes snail shells.

[Jean] He uses old snail shells that the snails have died in, and don't need any more.

And here he is.

And isn't there a very interesting story about how you happened to get Herman on your vacation?

Will you tell Alan and Elizabeth that story?

- [Charles] Wait, we went to Mystic Seaport one time and I was, we went to this one store.

I forget the name of it, we were going to it, and we went in and I saw these hermit crabs and mom said, "Would you want one?"

I said, "Well, I'd have to think about it."

And so we went out, (Jean laughs) and so we went a couple other places on these ships and stuff, and then we came back and I decided I wanted him.

- [Jean] Do they all look alike?

- [Charles] No.

- [Jean] No, you picked him out specially.

What did you like about him specially, his red feet?

(laughing) - [Charles] They all had red feet.

- [Jean] They all had red feet.

Were they all about the same size?

(Charles grunts) Oh, he's waking up.

And, this is, what kind of cage did you say this was?

- [Charles] He travels in that-- [Jean] His traveling cage, is this what you brought him back from Connecticut in?

- [Charles] Uh-huh.

[Jean] Isn't that neat, it has a little rubber band you can hold it by and-- - [Elizabeth] And the bottom is made out of coffee cup lid.

[Jean] Out of a plastic lid, right, well, Charles said a very important thing just then.

Did you hear him say that he had to think about taking on the responsibility for a new pet?

- [Alan] Yes.

[Jean] And that's a good thing, isn't it, because if you just go around collecting animals and you don't-- - [Alan] How you know, you're gonna like 'em?

[Jean] Right, or how you know, you're gonna like taking care of them everyday?

- [Elizabeth] I had to think about getting my fish tank in my room 'cause I didn't know if, like, I could have the responsibility to feed him because I'm not usually just feeding fish, but then I got used to it and I can't sleep without the noise anymore.

[Jean] Well, it's easier to have a pet that you can keep inside and take care of in your room, isn't it, than having something like a cow or a horse or something you have to go out in the snow and the rain to take care of?

Do you have any other pets, Charles?

- [Charles] Yeah, we've got a bird, a cat, and a dog.

[Jean] Oh, what kind of bird do you have?

- [Charles] A parakeet.

[Jean] Great, does it talk?

- [Charles] It's learning to.

[Jean] (laughs) Good.

- [Charles] It whistles.

We have a dog and it whistles and the dog comes, then the dog gets mad at it.

(Jean laughing) [Jean] Well, could you take Herman out and we'll get his playpen, sort of, his other cage.

(chuckles) I guess it's hard to get him loose from the wire without hurting his feet, isn't it?

- [Charles] He'll crawl down, I hope.

- [Jean] Oh, as soon as he finds out he can get out.

Maybe he could, we could put him over here on the table and get a close look at him before we check him out in his other cage.

- Come on.

- [Elizabeth] I brought some snails too.

- [Jean] Oh, good, they're invertebrates too, aren't they?

Well, as soon as we take good look at Herman, we'll take a look at your snails, I'm glad you remembered.

- [Charles] Come on.

(Jean chuckles) - [Jean] You think he'll come down off the cage?

- [Charles] He did before.

(Jean laughs) There you go.

- [Jean] Do you spend a lot of time playing with him every day?

- [Charles] Mom says, "Shouldn't spend too much time with him, you know, get him excited and stuff."

- [Jean] Oh, well maybe.

- [Charles] I spend good deal time.

And I talk to my birds.

- He's trying to get back in now.

(Jean chuckles) - Well, he's just exploring.

He's never been to Hodgepodge Lodge before.

And he wants to look around.

- [Alan] That is a cage you keep him in-- - [Jean] This is his cage that he-- - [Alan] Look what he has, wall-to-wall crawl container.

[Jean] Isn't that the fanciest pet cage you ever saw with wall to wall carpeting and a ramp.

Maybe if I poke him on the toes he'll let go long enough to get, there, all right, let.

Can I push.

- Will he bite?

- He'll pinch.

- I don't, I hope not.

Let's see what he does.

- He just pinches.

- When he's out on the table.

- [Elizabeth] I think he wants to come off.

- He's traveling, even though he's not in his traveling cage (chuckles).

We won't let him fall off.

Can you see his eyes, Alan?

- [Alan] Yes.

- [Elizabeth] They're little on, they look like little antennas with eyes at the end.

- And isn't it funny the way he travels, sort of pushing himself on his toes?

He's decided that's not a very safe place to go.

Yes, you put your hand up 'cause we don't want him to fall on the floor.

- [Elizabeth] 'Cause then he might die.

- Okay, let's try him in his big cage now and see if he'll do any tricks.

- Stick him on that ramp once, he walks up and down.

- Does he like that ramp?

- Yeah.

- Certainly is a beautiful ramp.

Oh, dear, I guess.

- I know how you made that.

- [Jean] He's getting bashful now.

- [Elizabeth] I know how you made that.

- [Jean] He pulled in all his feet.

What's your theory, Elizabeth?

- Well, I know how he made that.

You see, there's these kinds of popsicles you eat on, and then at the end you can take the sticks and you can make 'em.

- [Jean] I never saw popsicles will stick like that.

Is that really true Charles?

- Yeah.

They have a whole bunch of them up at the AMP.

(Jean laughs) - And that's how he knows.

- Oh, look, Charles knows his pet very well, he is gonna take a walk up his ramp, but he's stopping to stick his antennae out through the bars.

- [Alan] To smell.

- [Jean] Look, notice how he's walking, is he walking frontwards?

- [Alan] No.

- [Elizabeth] No, I think he just turned around, now he turned sideways.

- [Jean] He's going sideways.

Isn't that the way most crabs travel?

Sort of sideways?

- [Charles] He walks in his cage sometimes, he goes around this way-- - [Jean] Around in circles.

- [Charles] That's usually how he does.

- [Jean] Well, he certainly is a cute.

A cute little animal.

Does he eat very much?

- [Charles] He doesn't eat all the time.

(Jean laughs) 'Bout every three or four days.

- [Jean] Just as, do you think he's hungry now?

Think we could try him?

- [Charles] Okay.

- [Jean] see you brought a few crumbs of cake and a little bit of green stuff.

Herman, oh dear.

There.

Let's see if he would... - [Elizabeth] He's climbing over again.

- [Jean] Isn't it funny that a crab should like cake?

How about that?

No.

I guess he's just not used to eating in such strange, strange surroundings.

- [Elizabeth] Oh look, I never noticed.

I think... - [Alan] I never saw a hermit crab before.

- [Elizabeth] On their traveling cage, they put a little cap for his drinking water.

- [Jean] Isn't that neat?

What happens though?

He's still growing isn't he Charles?

- [Charles] I think so.

- [Jean] And what happens when he gets too big to fit in this shell?

- [Charles] He would take the while of that one and get another one.

- [Jean] So you have to be sure to have a bigger shell waiting because it'd be terrible for him to get stuck.

Most crabs have a shell all the way over them.

They have a hard body, don't they?

They have an outside skeleton.

But a hermit crab.

- He's called a soft-shelled crab.

-[Jean] Well, only part of him is soft.

His claws certainly aren't soft, but his, his tummy is soft and that's why he has to protect it by sticking it in the shell.

Well he always wants to go in that direction.

He's a one-way crab.

(laughs) - [Elizabeth] Turn him around the other way to see what he does.

(Jean chuckles) - [Charles] I turned him the way I wanted him to go, he was going one way, and I turned him the opposite, and then he turned his eyes the other way and just walked that way.

(Jean laughs) - [Jean] He certainly sees something.

He thinks that's the way to the ocean or to the beach or wherever he-- - Maybe.

- He can't get in water.

- [Jean] He can't get in water.

Oh, he's one of those tree hermit crabs, do you think?

Think he came from Florida?

Is that where they?

- I don't know where it came from.

- Where he came from originally?

Well, should we let him rest in his cage and take a look at a couple other invertebrates?

- [Charles] Let's take him in this one.

- [Jean] Yeah, let's put him in there, maybe he'll have some more exercises on his ramp.

- [Elizabeth] Me and Alan made a necklace this morning.

- [Jean] Oh, beautiful.

Elizabeth, isn't that the one you started the last time you were here?

- Uh-huh.

- Yes.

- [Jean] And you really finished it up nicely.

Sit up straight so we can see your necklaces.

You got a necklace at home like that, Charles?

- [Charles] No.

- Can I take it off?

(Jean laughs) - [Jean] Oh, I, leave it on, it looks so pretty.

I think that's very nice to see.

It looks sort of heavy.

You have to be really strong to wear a necklace that's got peanuts and acorns and paw-paw seeds.

- It's not really heavy, but it just looks, it sort of is medium.

- Sort of looks heavy.

Elizabeth, you brought something else beside your necklace didn't you?

- [Elizabeth] Uh-huh.

- You wanna tell us?

Here's a shell that I bet Herman would like, but Elizabeth says she has to take it home.

Why do you have to take it home, Elizabeth?

- [Elizabeth] Because we cook things in it.

- [Jean] (chuckles) Like what?

- Like we cook that in it.

- [Jean] And what is that?

- It's a, well my daddy calls them escargot, but they're really snails.

The inside of a snail.

Well, escargot is just the french word for snail.

- French word.

- [Jean] And that's where they like to eat a lot of snails, in France, escargot.

Do you know that word, Charles?

- [Charles] No.

(Jean laughs) - [Jean] Now you do.

Think you'd like to have some snails for supper tonight?

- Uh-uh.

- Not me!

- [Elizabeth] They don't taste that, well they taste good but.

- [Jean] Well, I think it's a taste you have to get used to.

There are a lot of things that you don't eat when you're children but by the time you get to be grown up, you think they're delicious.

And I bet snails.

- Like I don't like cold soup.

I only like warm soup.

- [Jean] Oh, I've had some of that cold soup.

Green and it's tomatoes and cucumbers and stuff all mixed up together.

Like a liquid toss salad?

Yeah, that has a funny name too.

Gazpacho, isn't it?

Something like that?

That's an Italian soup, I think.

So your mother takes the snails that are, they're canned.

Do they come from France?

And then she puts them in the shells and cooks them in the oven with a little butter and salt and maybe garlic?

- You know, she cooks them in, you know how you get the cupcake thing?

She cooks them in that.

She puts the little snails in there, then she puts them wherever, I forget where she put 'em.

And then put butter, a little butter, and it is really good.

- [Jean] Well, I'm glad you brought them to Hodgepodge Lodge today, when we were talking about invertebrates, 'cause they certainly don't have any backbone, they're really soft.

We have another live invertebrate here, swimming around.

- [Elizabeth] Oh, I know, oh, that's a pretty seahorse.

- Another.

- I know.

I know the little.

- It's a seahorse.

- [Elizabeth] I know what the little things that are swimming around, brine shrimp.

- [Jean] Oh, you're ahead of me, Elizabeth.

This is a, what is this, Alan?

- [Alan] A seahorse.

- [Jean] A beautiful seahorse that our friend, Mr. Perch at the Wet Pet Center, let me borrow for your visit because he's interested in seeing that children get to know about all kinds of animals.

And what do you think about a seahorse?

Do you think it's a vertebrate or an invertebrate?

- [Alan] Invertebrate.

- [Elizabeth] I think it has a backbone.

- [Jean] I think it does too.

I was confused too, Alan, and, but it's nice to have a vertebrate when we're talking about invertebrates so we can make sure we know which is which.

The reason some people think that seahorses sort of look like an invertebrate is because they have sort of skin like a starfish, and a starfish is an invertebrate.

So you would sort of think a seahorse might be.

But, even though they have skin that looks a little bit alike, the seahorse is a fish and he has a backbone.

But the starfish sounds like a fish, but it doesn't.

It doesn't have a backbone.

So this, a starfish is an invertebrate, but the seahorse has a backbone.

And what did you say were swimming around in there Elizabeth?

- [Elizabeth] Brine shrimp.

- [Jean] Brine shrimp.

What are they for?

- That's his food.

- [Jean] That's his food, but he doesn't seem to be interested in eating right this minute, does he?

- [Elizabeth] He looks like he's gonna go to sleep or something, I don't think he's gonna go to sleep, but.

- [Jean] Sometimes he hangs up in that, in a tree there, and takes a little rest.

- [Alan] It has gills like fish.

- [Jean] But I guess he's exploring a little bit too.

Let's see if we can get a better look at him.

- [Alan] Here, over here you can see him better.

- [Jean] Yeah, maybe he sees his face in the glass.

- [Elizabeth] That's a aquarium.

- How can you see him?

- But if you want him to live there real long, for about a year, you'd have to have a bubble, I think it is.

- [Jean] Right, right.

Setting up a saltwater aquarium that's gonna last a long time is a little tricky.

- [Elizabeth] My dad is, we got a salt water tank and my, we got six fish tanks and we're breeding angelfish, which is very hard to do, and we got another one that, and it's aquarium, we got two on the same ledge and it's not that strong either.

And one's a 30 gallon, the other's a 10 gallon.

- [Jean] Well, I hope you don't, I hope the ledge doesn't collapse and you have a flood one of these days.

(Jean laughs) - [Elizabeth] We got a program I took, I took a feeling test or something, and a looking test on my own.

Kissing gouramis, and he was real nice, and he let me do anything.

I almost took him out of the water and he kept on sort of like, he eats off my finger.

- [Jean] Gorgeous, let's get back to the invertebrates.

I see a couple of invertebrates flying right around here on the discovery table.

- Flies.

- Flies.

- What are they?

And flies belong to what, what's the name of the group that flies belong?

- [Elizabeth] A pest?

- [Charles] Insects?

- [Jean] Well pests, but insects, good Charles.

And insects, there are just millions and millions of insects, and they're all invertebrates.

And flies might be, we think of flies as pests, especially when they come in our house, but here's a beautiful insect that I don't think that you could call a pest.

- Whoa.

- [Jean] Whoops.

- [Elizabeth] He's something like a, not a primantis, but, I know his name.

- Well, well, I get a good.

- Katydid?

- It's a relative of a katydid, but it's an insect that you usually hear singing at night up in the trees.

- Oh, I know what it is.

- [Jean] It's a tree... - Cricket.

- A tree.

- [Jean] Tree cricket.

- Cricket.

- Oh, yes.

- [Jean] And since it's almost, what color is it?

Almost... - [Kids] Green.

- [Jean] Now it's very pale green, but almost white.

It's called a snowy tree cricket.

There's some that are sort of brown.

Have you ever seen one or heard one at night?

Charles?

- I think I've heard some.

- Heard some.

- I think I've heard some too.

- You know what happens to me, I can't go to sleep because of them.

Finally I got used to it.

- They make so much noise they keep you awake?

- Finally I got used to it.

Now I can't sleep without 'em.

So whenever I go up in the city, I can't, well, my grandmother, she lives in the city and I can't go to sleep 'cause the cars and everything.

- We get used to different kinds of noises, don't we?

I think I'd rather listen to tree crickets when I'm going to sleep than cars.

But he's got, even though he doesn't have a backbone, he's got beautiful green wings, pale green wings and antennae.

And how many legs do insects have?

- Six.

- Six to eight.

- Six legs, right?

So we just have one, well, we have two insects.

We have the flies that we didn't invite, and we have the snowy tree cricket.

So maybe while the weather is still good, you'll find a snowy tree cricket.

On some nights you see them sleeping on trees or leaves during the day.

Now I guess he's not gonna make any singing for us.

- [Alan] No.

- 'Cause he only sings at night.

I think I might put him in my terrarium and try to keep him for awhile.

- Maybe if you turned off all the lights in Hodgepodge Lodge because he might, it's something like the hens only lay their eggs in the daytime, and so they keep a whole bunch of lights on in the hen house so they lay some in the night.

- That fools 'em.

Charles, do you think we could get Herman out and let him walk around on the table again?

'Cause I think we get, that's really-- - [Elizabeth] He's a pretty fast walker.

- [Jean] He is a fast walker, but I think we've got enough crab chasers here to keep up with him.

Yeah, put him back there and then he'll have a longer distance to travel.

(chuckles) Does he drink water?

- [Charles] Yeah.

- [Jean] How does he do that?

Just with his claws?

- [Charles] That claw there, he sticks in the water dish and then there's like a little scoop and then he scoops it out and drinks it.

- [Jean] Oh, he certainly is a interesting kind of pet.

Do you think you'd like to have one, Elizabeth, now?

- Yes, I want one.

Can I hold him on my hand?

- [Charles] Don't hold him up here, just hold him right here.

- All right.

- Why?

What happens if you hold him up here?

- Well one time I was holding him like that and he pinched me.

- Okay, you wanna hand him over to her?

You can, because you don't often get a chance.

(Jean laughing) You don't often get a chance to hold a hermit crab, unless you happen to find one at the beach.

Let Alan have a turn too, Elizabeth.

- [Alan] Come back here.

- [Jean] All right, hold him over the table now, we don't wanna lose him.

All right, let him fall off on the table.

- [Elizabeth] I think he just wants to go direct.

(Jean laughing) It looks like the blue table probably, to him, is the sea.

- [Jean] Maybe it is, and even though he doesn't live in the water, I suspect he lives maybe in some trees that are close to the water.

- [Elizabeth] He probably sees something around Hodgepodge Lodge-- - [Alan] That he likes.

- [Jean] And he likes cake and he likes lettuce.

Anything else?

- [Charles] Dry bread and cookies.

- [Jean] And cookies, my goodness.

I didn't know.

What do other kinds of crabs eat?

- [Alan] They must eat fish.

- [Jean] They eat a lot of dead things they find on the bottom of the ocean, don't they?

- [Elizabeth] They're scavengers.

- [Jean] They're scavengers, right, that's a good word.

Look, when he's in danger, when he thinks something terrible is gonna happen to him, like when I turned him upside down, he pulls all his feet in and that gives us a better chance to see his one, he has one great big claw.

And that's sort of purple, isn't it?

- [Kids] Yeah.

- [Jean] Boy, that is beautiful.

- [Elizabeth] Purple-ish blue.

- [Jean] And that's the one, do you know if this is a male or a female?

- [Charles] Uh-uh.

- I sort of think, he might be a male 'cause he has such a big claw that they use to fight with.

And do you know what happens when a crab loses his claw?

- It grows another one.

- It grows back.

- [Jean] They can grow another one, right.

Is there anything else you think we should know about hermit crabs?

- I've heard of a crab, that if they wanna get a shell that another hermit crab has, he'll go and eat that crap.

(Jean laughs) - [Jean] Well, that's one way to get a new house, isn't it?

Have you got plenty of shells, spare shells, for him in case he gets bigger?

Goodness, you'll have to make a trip to the ocean.

(Jean laughing) - [Elizabeth] He just wants to go over there.

- He certainly is a traveling crab.

- [Elizabeth] He's one of the fastest crabs I've ever seen.

- [Jean] No.

- [Elizabeth] But, my daddy, it's very unusual.

He went in a eating crab, and those were in the ocean, and you shouldn't be, the crabs are more scared than you are of them, and you always have to catch them, something like that, and then he tried to get him, and he swam away real fast, but, I still, my daddy, I didn't wanna get near him.

- [Jean] It's very hard to catch crabs unless you have some bait on a line and are very still and, you know, that's-- - [Alan] Regular crabs still bite ya with their claws.

- [Jean] Well they sure will.

Well, that's their way of defending themselves, isn't it?

- Like, um, like.

- Regular crabs.

- [Jean] Well, I hope you have a chance to look for some animals without backbones today.

Why don't you go out right now and take a nature walk and see if you can find some insects, or worms, or other interesting little creatures without backbones.

And I hope you've enjoyed meeting Herman the hermit crab.

Thank you for coming very much, Charles.

And you come back soon again.

Goodbye.

(gentle organ music) - [Child] This program was made possible through funds contributed by members of the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting.

(uplifting trumpet music) - [Boy] Pre-recorded in the studios of the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting.