Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/HermitCrab

Hermit Crabs

Playful Hermit Crabs

1st Edit of HermitCrabs.jpg

These 4 Hermit Crabs were seen perched on top of a piece of coral in a Salt Water Aquarium. The tank was dark and a flash artifact is seen off the back wall of the tank. This could be edited out in some way however. The image was taken by myself through the glass of a Salt Water Aquarium in San Antonio, Texas. I am not an expert on Hermit Crabs, just happened to be observing this tank and taking some pictures with a new camera to check out it's capabilities. I am guessing this is simply a playful balancing act or some kind of mating ritual. Any ideas from the community? This image appears in the article Hermit Crab.

• Nominate and support. - Drcbc 00:21, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
• Comment. This image has no source or copyright information and has had a notice on it since 7 April. It's not in an article either, all these are required for a featured picture candidate.--Dakota ~ ° 00:50, 9 April 2006 (UTC)
• Comment. Thank you, I am new to this and I think I have now added the source, licensing information and it is now in the Hermit Crab article.Drcbc13:28 9 April 2006 (UTC)
• Comment. This is the first edit. I have added a background to cover the flash artifact off the back glass of the aquarium.Drcbc14:28 21 April 2006 (UTC)
• Comment. The background and colors seem dreary for a FP (which isn't your fault, just what was there, I guess). I'd rather see a low shot of a hermit crab crawling along the beach, with a nice blue sky in the background. But that's just my opinion, which won't count for much until I start uploading pics myself. Mooveeguy 18:40, 21 April 2006 (UTC)
• Comment. I feel that one of the best characteristics of the picture was that the nondescript background focused the viewer on a sharp, well framed rather unusual grouping of Hermit Crabs perched precariously on top of a piece of coral. A busy,colorful background might easily distract the viewer from the central subject. Drcbc21:00 21 April 2006 (UTC)
• Comment: This is a quite decent picture, but when shrunk to thumbnail size it's perhaps a little busy (there's a lot of hermit crabs rather than just one) and not contrasty enough to figure out what's going on. Thumbnail pics work best when they are very simply composed IMHO. --Robert Merkel 05:22, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
• Comment: From what I remember about hermit crabs, I think there is often quite a bit of competition for the 'best' shell, or at least the best fit. A group of hermits will tend to swap shells periodically so if one of these is a recent arrival or has found a new shell, his companions may be trying to persuade him to swap. I think they can also detect when a female is 'in heat' and may cluster around her tapping her shell to encourage her to mate. I make no guarantees about the accuracy of that lot, it's just from memory ;) Yummifruitbat 22:05, 3 May 2006 (UTC)