Coenobita

Coenobita is a genus of terrestrial hermit crabs in the family Coenobitidae, named by Pierre Andre Latreille in 1829 from an Ecclesiastical Latin word rooted in Greek for commune, a reference to the crabs communal habits. The genus contains 21 recognized species, several of which are kept as pets, and its members carry water inside the gastropod shells they inhabit, allowing them to remain away from the sea for extended periods. Coenobita is most closely related to the coconut crab, Birgus latro, the only other genus in Coenobitidae, together forming a distinctive terrestrial lineage among the decapod crustaceans.