Pagurus dalli has a smooth, partially calcified carapace up to 1.8 cm (0.7 in) long, and a curved abdomen.

[3] This hermit crab is native to the northeastern Pacific Ocean, its range extending from the Bering Sea to Oregon, but is not particularly common anywhere.

[3] Like other hermit crabs, P. dalli uses an empty gastropod mollusc shell to protect its soft parts, primarily its abdomen.

[4] P. dalli has been found enveloped in a similar way by the colonial hydroid Schuchertinia milleri.

[3] Pagurus dalli is one of several species of hermit crabs in the infraorder Anomura that the parasitic barnacle Clistosaccus paguri uses as a host.