New Delhi, India

In a shocking development, new pictures have surfaced showing Hermit crabs adorning plastic shells as a safety net for their bodies amid a surge in levels of pollution in oceans across the globe.

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The discovery, based on the analysis of photos taken by wildlife enthusiasts, has been published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

Scientists, expressing anguish over the current wildlife situation, said that they were heartbroken to witness the extent to which the animals were suffering and the way they were living on human-generated waste.

They said the pictures showed nearly two-thirds of hermit crab species in "artificial shells", the items that were discarded by humans.

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One of the researchers Marta Szulkin, who is an urban ecologist from the University of Warsaw, said, "We started to notice something completely out of the ordinary. Instead of being adorned with a beautiful snail shell, which is what we're used to seeing - they would have a red plastic bottle cap on their back or piece of light bulb."

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Szulkin and her fellow colleagues, Łukasz Dylewski, from Poznan University of Life Sciences and Zuzanna Jagiello from the University of Warsaw found that a total of 386 crabs were using plastic caps as their shells.

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"According to our calculations, 10 out of the 16 species of land hermit crabs in the world use this type of shelter and it's been observed in all tropical regions of the Earth," Prof Szulkin explained.

However, it is unclear if these materials are even helpful for marine creatures.

"When I first saw these pictures, I felt it was heart-breaking," BBC Radio 4's Inside Science quoted Prof Szulkin as saying. 

"At the same time, I think we really need to understand the fact that we are living in a different era and animals are making use of what is available to them," the professor added.

(With inputs from agencies)