An estimated 570,000 hermit crabs become trapped and die in plastic containers on the remote Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Henderson Island each year, according to a new study. Accumulated plastics on beaches could cause a serious decline in hermit crab populations, the study’s authors say. Hermit crabs are at risk on beaches globally where crabs and plastic pollution overlap. On Henderson Island there were approximately 38 million pieces of trash trapping and killing an estimated 61,000 crabs each year. On the Cocos Islands there were 414 million pieces of trash entrapping 508,000 crabs each year. That worked out to 239 pieces of trash per square meter on the beaches of Henderson Island, and 713 on the Cocos Islands.
— source news.mongabay.com | 28 Feb 2020