Hi fellow Hiveians,
Today I'm here with something we didn't see before! A crab that was molting!
Crab With a Side of Molt
If you've stopped by my blog in the past summer or two you'll probably have seen one or two, or more posts about us and our tidepool and crab adventures that we partake in over the course of the summer. We've tried to do it earlier in the year like around March or April but there's sadly nothing out in those early months lol so summertime it is!
One of the things that we haven't seen before which ended up being pretty awesome to see, was a crab in the process of molting!
Being able to incorporate these small lessons like this into our sons overall education, even though it's not formal "homeschool" type stuff is really fun. We are able to talk about the process of molting, or shedding the old shell and growing a new one, and how that works for the crabs and why they do it. Our son was certainly fascinated by it all! Thankfully he was very inquisitive and kind to the little critter.
I have only seen molting on things like snakes or in documentaries and stuff where fancy people go around and show us what happens. It was pretty cool to see it for our own eyes! Better still, our son is the one who found the molting crab so that was also something that made me happy. When he's able to find these things instead of me, it makes me feel better. He loves being able to say he's the one that did or found something. I don't let him have all the glory all the time but I do try to let him have the majority of it to build the little tackers confidence.
I did take the cake for the biggest crab of the day though! This was my find here, thing was pretty big!
If you're wondering why I am holding him upside down, it keeps them calmer for some reason I've learned. I don't necessarily mind picking them up but I don't enjoy getting pinched! So if I can make them calm with something as easy as just holding them upside down, I'm all for it. It also allows me to snag a decent picture, albeit a little odd angle.
This guy was obviously a brawler, missing his main claw on the right side there. Some of them are really intense in their fights!
It was pretty wild to see the molting crab though. Lots of parts of the thing were molting like the claws here as well as the shell! I think I read that they also eat the molted shell as a way to have food but as well recycle the resources that it took their little bodies to produce the new shell.
This was certainly a heck of a find and I'm glad that I was able to document it a little bit and snag some pictures for everyone to check it out!
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Nice photos of molting crab. It must take a few hours to lose the shells. Nature is wonderful !
Thanks yeah it's crazy lol it's pretty damn cool to see them molting like that!
We appreciate your work and your post has been manually curated by zoology team (oscurity,nelinoeva) on behalf of Amazing Nature Community. Keep up the good work!
When I woke up this morning, who would have thought I was going to read a fascinating story and see some super pictures of a molting crab. Brilliant.
When I was a kid at the seaside, I learnt to hold them gently with finger and thumb. Finger between the eyes and thumb in a straight line at the back. Their pincers can't reach that spot between the eyes.
If you do try it and and nipped, not my fault though, it is a long time since I was a kid crabbing in the rock pools at the cost!
Have a great week :-)
It's remarkable what we get exposed to here on hive isn't it?! Lol thanks for stopping by to check it out!
I'll give it a try once to see if it works. We've had pretty good luck doing it this way although our son does it a little different where he just grabs the poor thing and hoists it up fast before it can pinch lol
Just learnt something new and that's how to hold a crab for it to stay calm. The last time I tried picking up a crab, I almost lost a finger and since then I've never touched one. Lol. So I think this new technique could work. Lovely photos BTW 🥰
Hahah yeah it's not official or scientific but it works! They do try to get ya but we use a gardening glove so they usually get the glove more than anything. It was very cool to see them getting rid of their shell!
I'd definitely love to witness a crab getting rid of it's shell too.
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thank for sharing the info!
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