This species was first collected during the exploratory expedition by HMS Blossom (1825–1827) off the Kamchatka Peninsula, in eastern Siberia.

The specimens collected were sent to London where this hermit crab was first described in 1839 by the English naturalist Richard Owen, curator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.

The carapace is armed with dorsal spines and is more heavily calcified than is the case in most hermit crabs.

It occurs from the shallow subtidal zone down to about 412 m (1,350 ft); it frequents open sandy or muddy places.

[5] Because L. splendescens has a well-calcified carapace, the gastropod mollusc shell which it inhabits is only needed to provide protection for its soft abdomen.