Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Our Catch of the Day at the Children's Museum!

Today, for the second time this summer at the Boston Children's Museum, something very exciting and unexpected was discovered in our crab trap. All morning, we had been pulling up tiny, young green crabs, but this time as Andrew pulled the trap up, a fair-sized lobster greeted us! This lobster was unfriendly to say the least, but nice enough to allow the green crabs to crawl all over its back and along its claws -- much to the delight of the kids and adults who visited us. Lobster expert Candido impressively and effortlessly held its claws together to let all of the kids touch the lobster's back and side, and other Bostonians passing by commented on what a nice size lobster we had caught.

The Lobster!

 The lobster was not the only feisty creature that we dealt with today. Some of the captured green crabs were undoubtedly ones that we had also caught the day before, and they did not seem happy to find themselves back in our touch tank! One crab seemed to go into panic-mode the second he escaped from our crab trap and onto the harborwalk. As one staff member reached in to grab him, he immediately voluntarily let go of two of his legs -- quite the site to see. The fact that crabs can regrow their limbs is always a popular fact with the kids we meet, for good reason! As we wrap our summer program up at the Children's Museum, I look forward to ending this week on a high note!

-Ashley Wakefield, Senior Harbor Educator at the Boston Children's Museum

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