Security footage at the Galveston Marine Heritage Museum showed nothing unusual until Tuesday morning.
A hermit crab - later identified as a wild Coenobita clypeatus that had crawled in through a basement drain - abandoned its shell on the floor and climbed into a 400-year-old Spanish colonial conch on the invertebrate display.
The shell was valued at $11,200.
Curators couldn't remove the crab without risking damage to the artifact.
A marine biologist spent six hours coaxing it out using warmed saltwater and a slightly larger shell from a pet store. The crab rejected the pet store shell twice.
It finally accepted a third option - the original shell it came in with. He just wanted to try it on, the biologist told local news, completely straight-faced.
Today is World Giraffe Day-the longest day of the year and a perfect time to celebrate the world’s tallest land animal! It’s also Father’s Day! Help us celebrate Zeke, who will be a first-time dad this fall!
@whale6x 5000 to get a new moped to replace the one that was stolen last year. it would let me go places without need to worry about how to get there or finding rides.
This is Baby. She is celebrating her first ever International Corgi Day today. Personally thinks she should be celebrated every day, but this is a good start. 14/10
“Some people call me the space cowboy (yeah) / Some call me the gangster of love / Some people call me Maurice / ‘Cause I speak of the pompatus of love.”
- “The Joker,” The Steve Miller Band
FWIW: ‘pompatus’ is not a word.
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