Week 3: Oh My Crabs!

Hello Ocean savers! This summer has been flying by, and this week was HOT! This past week at Piers was all about crabs. We caught over 35 crabs in the crab trap, which is a lot off the dock at Piers! The kids at Piers love being at the touch tank and holding the crabs, even the giant spider crabs (which I am still afraid of, haha). This week was fun with the kids; we did some awesome lessons/activities with them. On Wednesday, we did an Educational Obstacle Course with three levels; Matching Game, and Guessing Game, then ended it with Pictionary! Although only one team won the Obstacle Course, all the kids had a great time playing the different games. At Courageous this past Tuesday, we only caught two crabs off the pier, but I have a good feeling about this upcoming week!

While at Piers Park and Courageous Sailing, we encounter mostly crabs, mainly European Green Crabs and Spider Crabs. European Green Carbs are considered the most invasive species in marine life. Green crabs are all over the Boston Harbor and are one of the most frequent crabs we catch. The green crabs we catch are usually small, but they can grow up to be 8-10 inches wide! One way to always tell if a crab you catch is indeed a green carb is they will have five spikes at the top of their shell, representing the five letters in G-R-E-E-N. Green crabs usually survive by eating other small marine life such as clams, oysters, muscles, and sea worms. Sadly, one marine life that feeds on dead green crabs is spider crabs.

We’ve caught a lot of spider crabs this past week, with a rough total of 20! The spider crabs we catch are pretty big, but there are even bigger ones in different parts of the world. For example, the Japanese Spider crabs can grow up to 12 feet and weigh 40 pounds! I hope I never see a spider crab that big, haha! Luckily, the spider crabs we catch are usually only 5-6 inches wide. We mainly catch spider crabs in our crab trap because they typically live on the ocean floor. Interestingly, spider crabs aren’t hunters! Instead, they survive by consuming dead or decaying fish and invertebrates. I hope to catch many more crabs this upcoming week and even a chance to maybe catch a fish, haha! I can’t wait to come up with more activities/ lessons to do with the kids! Sea you later, Fatima Fontes :)