Dardanus calidus is a species of hermit crab from the East Atlantic (Portugal to Senegal) and Mediterranean Sea.
D. calidus can grow to a length of . It uses large gastropod shells, such as those of Tonna galea and Charonia species, which it often decorates with one or more sea anemones of the species Calliactis parasitica.[1] The relationship with the anemone is truly symbiotic, since the anemone gains scraps of food from the hermit crab, while the crab benefits from the anemone's stinging tentacles deterring predators.[1]
Dardanus calidus is a scavenger, feeding on decaying matter from the sea bed.[1]
It has been collected from depths greater than, but is more typically found in shallower water.[2]
Dardanus calidus was first described by Antoine Risso in 1827, under the name Pagurus calidus, and was transferred to the genus Dardanus by Jacques Forest in 1958.[3] The larval form Glaucothoë rostrata, described by Edward J. Miers in 1881, has also been assigned to D. calidus.[4]