Usually, when scuba divers explore the waters off San Diego, they see lots of fish—and maybe the occasional shark or octopus. But, in recent weeks, they’ve found the seafloor completely covered in small, red crustaceans....
'Organisers said that, although most of the 700 submissions did abide by the rules, several jokes “were disqualified for scientific inaccuracy, and rather a lot for lewdness”.'
"The hermit crab is not, in fact, hermetical: they're sociable, often climbing on top of one another to sleep in a great pile. When a crab comes across a new shell that turns out to be too big, it waits nearby until another crab comes to inspect it. If it's too small for a second crab, they hold claws and form a queue until a crab who fits it arrives, then the next crab in line claims the newly-housed crab's shell ... "
from 'The Golden Mole', by Katherine Rundell #Crabs#Nature#Bookstodon
This whole group of #crabs have adapted to scavenge and use discarded #SnailShells to protect their fragile bodies. And when those shells are in short supply, the crabs will fight over them.
The researcher said that the natural snail shells were in decline, so she suspected it might be becoming easier for the animals to find an artificial alternative. #Oceans#Plastics#pollution
Looking for gift ideas? Come check out my Underwater collection where you can order everything from wall art to mugs, from yoga mats to shower curtains, and more. All of these photos were taken by yours truly!
your vaccine's safety
predator's seeking blue blood
horseshoe crabs dwindle...
*I grew up seeing these amazing creatures on the beach. We would carefully put them back in the ocean only touching their body. Sad they are being harvested and bleed for us. Almost endangered now. :(
“Corridors play a crucial role in connectivity and rewilding, providing safe passageways for animals to travel between fragmented habitats,” Zenkewich says.
“This is a huge part of their success in surviving and thriving.”
We used threshold models to estimate the change in "grade" of terrestriality and found it is 10-100x harder to move to beach/forest from intertidal/estuarine. Perhaps #crabs inform on the otherwise hidden processes of #terrestrialization in early arthropods 400+ mya!
4/4
Meet the largest and strongest land crustacean, the Coconut Crab! Weighing up to 4.1 kg and reaching over 3 feet of leg span, this giant species of hermit crab is found on islands across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Its pincers have a crushing force of a whopping 3,300 newtons; 22 times the strength of a lobster! An opportunistic eater, it eats about anything, but feeds primarily on fleshy fruits. It's been observed dropping coconuts from high up in the trees to crack them open, and often descends trees by just falling off!
How do you guys deal with the #door#crabs? #october always come with the usual #spiders and these door crabs. Who does that by the way? #seattle weirdos going around people's doors and tying crabs. It's better than if they went around tying #chickens or worse, it could be #Turkeys tied to our doors. That would be horrible.
"Warming temperatures have led to melting ice cover. That has meant less algae, which grows on the underside of sea ice and which feeds the benthic amphipods that #whales eat. Less algae means fewer amphipods that whales need to survive."
"Billions of snow #crabs have disappeared from the ocean around #Alaska in recent years, and scientists now say they know why: Warmer ocean temperatures likely caused them to starve to death. "
Why Are Tuna Crabs Swarming Off the Coast of San Diego? (lighthouse-eco.co.za)
Usually, when scuba divers explore the waters off San Diego, they see lots of fish—and maybe the occasional shark or octopus. But, in recent weeks, they’ve found the seafloor completely covered in small, red crustaceans....