SAT OwlQuestion bank / Command of Evidence
Hermit crabs protect their soft bodies by living in empty snail shells, and they must move into larger shells as they grow. Biologist Priya Venkat hypothesizes that when a hermit crab finds an empty shell that is too big for it, the crab does not simply leave. Instead, she proposes, it waits nearby so that it can claim the shell that a larger crab will abandon when that crab moves into the new one.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support Venkat's hypothesis?
Hermit crabs in the study area most often lived in shells that were slightly too small for their bodies to fit comfortably.
Hermit crabs that found empty shells of the right size usually moved into them within a few minutes.
Crabs that found oversized shells usually waited beside them, then took the shells that larger crabs left behind.
Larger hermit crabs were more likely than smaller hermit crabs to fight one another over empty shells.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C
Venkat predicts two things: a crab that finds a shell too big for it waits nearby, and it then takes the shell a larger crab leaves behind. Choice C reports exactly that behavior.
Choice A is about hermit crabs and shell size, but it says nothing about waiting beside oversized shells.
Why the other choices are wrong
- A. This describes how well shells fit, not whether crabs wait beside shells that are too big.
- B. This concerns shells that fit, while the hypothesis is about what crabs do with shells that are too big.
- D. Fighting among larger crabs doesn't show smaller crabs waiting to claim a shell that is left behind.
Got it wrong? On SAT Owl, Owl looks at the answer you chose and explains the exact mistake, then gives you similar questions until it sticks. Get your predicted SAT score free, or take a free full-length practice test.