Spider Crabsss

Hi everyone,

As All Access Boston Harbor is wrapping up the summer this week, it gave families and friends the opportunity to come out to Spectacle island. On Tuesday we had a lot of families that came out with us. Although the attendance went down, it was still fun.

As always, I was fishing with a few groups of families where kids were fighting over rods. When I made the kids understand that there were not enough fishing rods for everyone, fishing got a lot better even though we did not catch anything. Usually I cast out a fishing rod and leave it out there to try to catch something to show the kids. This time just when I thought I had a skate on the line, It turned out to be a huge spider crab. The family that was there at that time also helped me pull up the crab trap in which all that was inside were 10 spider crabs. Throughout this summer, I was waiting to catch some pregnant spider crabs to show kids and families what a pregnant crab looks like. Luckily, four of those crabs were pregnant so I was able to show the kids and families and they were all amazed. That was the highest number of spider crabs we had caught all at once in a trap. I cant wait to see what the last day of the program will be like.

Until next time,

Andrea Lopes :)

Hey, Spider Crab !

Let me get right to it.

Normally I'd give you a run down of some sort but this time I am choosing to get right to the accomplishments of this week. You saw what I did there? Haha, you may have noticed I indirectly still gave you a run down your attempting to understanding by now. Do not be frantic its just a little fun.

Kye's 'Awe' face

On a serious note, our new session started today. It was not the easiest of days but definitely one well worth it. Many of our new campers apart of our fishing club can actually be considered novice fisherman. Not that were professionals or anything of that sort. SIKE. We at Save the Harbor are excellent fishermen/women. Just in our first day we landed two skate, tons of red rock crab, a couple sea bass bites and so much more.
The most impactful moment of our day though was watching our new friend, Kye, become so eager to understand what a Spider Crab was. He starred at it closely observing all of its legs and pincers with a face only describable by one word, awe. He had so many questions and we had all the right answers. Unfortunately after telling him he could not keep the crab, he assisted us in releasing it and the other catches of the day.

If today does not scream success I truly do not know what does.

-Ahmed

Babies!

I think it's fair to say I have the best summer job ever. I don't even work, I explore. I'm low key Dora the Explorer because there's different things to do every day and new things I learn about. Last Friday at children's we had the pleasure of catching a pregnant female crab! The amount of eggs she had were uncountable. There were probably like thousands. If you've ever watched Finding Nemo, at the start of the movie you see all the fish eggs, they literally look like those in microscopic size. It was a spider crab and she was a lot more gentle than I thought she would be. She was not as overprotective and allowed us to open up and see all her babies. It was quite a catch, everyone who came up to the touch tank was amazed. We soon released her back into the ocean for her safety and for the safety of her eggs.

 

 Not only was that the first time seeing a pregnant crab but this weekend was my first time at the sand sculpting festival at Revere Beach. We set up a station for fish printing and after that I was able to walk around and look at all the pretty sculptures. What job allows you to have fun as working? Mine! I took lots of pictures and my snapchat story was so long. Bella and I got lit as we sat in the model cars from Chevrolet bumping loud music. I enjoyed some fried dough while admiring the sculptures and ice cream. It was a day well spent. My time is never wasted at work. Until next time, can't wait to see what's coming up.

All summer 16

Kharliyah

The More You Know

Hello again fellow adventurers!

This week at Children's Museum the old saying "you learn something new everyday" has held true! Being a marine biology major, I take pride in being able to bring my knowledge on the subject forward to anyone who is willing to listen. For most of the young kids (and even most of the parents) that come pay us a visit at the Children's Museum, they are seeing and experiencing a lot of things for the first time! From touching a crab for the first time, to casting a fishing pole, its an awesome feeling to see the looks of excitement on both the kids and their parents faces.

Seaweed Camouflage!

For example, the other day we pulled up a creepy-crawly spider crab from our crab trap. Although it was not the first one we'd seen, it was the first we saw that had seaweed growing off of it! In reality, the seaweed isn't actually growing out of the crab, instead the crab actually attached the seaweed to its shell! In order to protect themselves from predators, spider crabs have developed an almost hoarder mentality of collecting algae and other foliage to create their own make-shift camouflage. In more tropical parts of the world, spider crabs will attach anemones and even pieces of coral to themselves to blend into coral reefs. In Boston harbor however, the dark murky bottom limits these crabs to using algae and other dark plants. Although they might fool their predators, this camouflage is no match for a crab trap when they wander in looking for a mid afternoon snack.


This week we also began implementing a new activity to our program, knot tying! Any professional sailor (or pirate) knows the importance of knot tying, so we thought it might be fun to teach kids and parents alike some of the most common maritime knots. While I've become square knot pro, arguably the easiest knot to tie,  Sarah is by far the pro. At first some of the kids didn't seem very interested, but after watching Sarah make the knots look like a piece of cake, everyone was eager to test their knot tying skills. Mine might still need some work, but I'm getting better every day, and now some of the kids and their parents can learn something useful for the future, especially if being a full time pirate is your life goal! I'm excited to see what the coming weeks have in store for us at the Children's Museum, and I can't wait to keep sharing my knowledge of the sea with those that come to visit.

Look at all those knots!

Until next time, keep on exploring!

-Luke C.

Awesome first week

This week was pretty great! Getting back into the hang of things didn't take too long and there was a different cool and funny thing that happened every day. Usually at Piers Park we only really catch green crabs but towards the end of the week we decently sized spider crab. It did creep out some of the kids so they didn't want to hold her but she did get all of the kids attention. We've caught so many that the kids started to get into the habit of naming them as well as anything else that we may catch. 

Two of my favorite things that happened this week would have to be going out on a sail boat with the kids and bringing the kids to the park after lunch. The kids have so much that they need to say even if some of what they say doesn't make the most sense it is nice to see their excitement when they are telling me a story or some facts that they know. Being on the sail boat with them gave them plenty of time to say a lot. Although we go to the park for a little over a half hour every day and most of them run through the sprinkler everyday is so different making it so much fun. Being chased by them all is pretty exhausting but its still really funny

and getting splashed is pretty refreshing after running. I cant wait to see what next week has in store for us at Piers Park.



Until next time,
Esmeralda

Spider Crab

Today at the children museum, I caught a giant spider crab. It was the biggest spider crab I ever caught and ever seen. The crab was a male and it wasn't as dirty looking as the others. The big crab was put into the touch tank together with the green crabs. Then we added some squid so it would be able to eat.

A lot of the children were scared to touch and pick up the giant spider crab, but eventually they gained confidence and tried. There wasn't many fish today that we were able to put in the touch tank or to be able to show them to any of the children. The crabs are different from each other in many ways.  Such like in size and with the way they catch their own pray. The children would sometimes catch crabs on their fishing pole. The crabs are scavengers. Which means that they would eat anything that is under the water.

                                          -Edward C

An Amazing First Week

Hello,

My name is Marco and I've had an amazing first week. We have caught spider crabs, green crabs and fish. This week I got to spend time outside the Children's Museum getting to show and teach  little kids and families about all the underwater life. This week was very hot, but also very fun. I met a lot of kids who were interested in the crabs and fish. Some of them liked to touch the animals, and other didn't. In the end, everyone seemed to be intrigued by what we creatures we caught.

This week was the first time I have ever caught and seen a spider crab up close. Getting to feel the crabs was pretty cool. We also got to go fishing right off the dock which is pretty cool. This summer I look forward to catching many more different sea creatures.

This summer has been great so far. I look forward to being able to catch a striped bass. While at the Children's Museum, we have several fishing rods and two crab traps. Each fishing rod is equipped with bait. We help teach the kids how to put bait on the rod, and we also teach them how to use the crab traps. A few kids have caught crabs using the fishing rods. I can't wait for the rest of the summer to come, because I know it will be a lot of fun.

green crabs in our touch tank

See you at the Children's Museum,

Marco Savage

Off to a Great Start

We kicked off our first week of the Boston Harbor Explorers program at the Children's Museum. This is my 2nd year at the site, and I'm looking forward to all the experiences, seeing new faces, and creatures we will catch off the pier of the Fort Point Channel.

My team at the Boston Children's Museum is LHE, Candido, JPAs, Marco, Sumtoo, and Edward. I'm really excited about what we can accomplish at this site.

As the week comes to a close, we've caught green crabs, spider crabs, cunners, moon jellyfish, and tunicates. Candido, our Lead Harbor Explorer, and I are currently dedicated to catching one of the mysterious striped bass that roam the waters of the Fort Point Channel each day around 2 PM. With the help of Sam, a Senior Harbor Educator & fisherman extraordinaire, we will catch one soon enough.

Candido, Lead Harbor Explorer, showing the crowd a spider crab

We've experimented with many types of bait such as herring, quahogs, and bread. We still have some tricks up our sleeves and plenty of summer to catch a striper!

See you on the pier,

Iris Ayala

Solo but it's Always GoGo

           Hey Guys I'm Back!

  Last week was the most epic heat wave ever! Despite the heat, many parents, adults, and kids came to visit us at the Children's Museum! Earlier in the week it was only Iris and I at the museum, but even solo everything else was the same-- kids came rushing in and adults were also curious too!

Iris and I showing a group of parents and kids what we caught

Me, holding a fish I caught...with the help of the net of course!

    For the first time we started catching fish, in the crab traps of course! All the fish we caught were a decent size and were slimy! EW! I even called myself the fish whisper a couple of times, because I saved two fish!-- Once one small fish's head was caught in the net and wasn't able to move, so I knew just what to do! I jumped out of my seat and ran to the net to delicately pull the little head out of the net! I was elated that whole entire day!

All the crabs we caught packed together

In total, we caught about thirty crabs in one day! This was unheard of to me, so I had to take a picture of this metaphorical prize...

Although we are located at the Children's Museum, children are not the only ones invited! To my surprise so MANY adults had no idea hold to hold crabs, the difference between a girl or boy crab, or even that crabs are fortunate enough to grow back their limbs!

Chris and I showing and teaching adults how to hold crabs

Lastly, I caught our very first spider crab! It was HUGE... I was secretly scared to hold it!

1st Spider Crab we've caught

                             Peace, Love, and Happiness,
                                         Anicia Gillespie

The Not So Itsy Bitsy Spider... Crab

Spidey the Spider Crab!

Hello Explorers!

Just checking in with an update on the latest happenings at the McDonough Sailing Center in Southie. If you've read any of my posts, I'm assuming you know all about the lobsters over there (and you could quite possibly be sick of hearing about them). Let me take a break from those guys and tell you about another creepy crustacean: the spider crab! Because of their appearance, they tend to get a bad reputation, but have generally been known to be pretty gentle creatures.

While we've obviously been catching a lot of lobsters in our lobster pot, sometimes we come across other creatures who have found their way into the trap. Among the clusters of occasional seaweed that drift in, we've found green crabs, red rock crabs, and... spider crabs! I do want to take a second and let our readers know... There is an escape vent on lobster traps that allows lobsters below regulation size - as well as the other smaller marine creatures that might sneak in for a tasty treat - to return to the water. This helps keep the population going, and allows the younger creatures a chance to reproduce and grow into adulthood.

When we pulled up our trap last week, while there were indeed lobsters inside, there was also a large spider crab. It was a male, and after much deliberation, the McDonough campers decided on naming him Spidey. We spent much of the afternoon learning about the big guy and hopefully the campers not only walked away with a new friend, but a new-found knowledge of spider crabs. 

Spidey makes a new friend.

Emily takes a shot at holding a massive spider crab.

Mary

The amazing spider crab!!!

Hello everybody! Today at McDonough was a gorgeous day for the kids to participate in a series of fun activities such as: crabbing, fishing, swimming etc... And so my friend Jake insisted that we go check the lobster trap while the others were on the dock having a blast. For the first time, Jake got to go on the motor boat to the lobster traps along with a few people from Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay staff. He was so excited, he even got a chance to help us pull the lobster trap up. As our usual catch we had some lobsters. (4 to be exact) and as we were putting the trap into the water Jake noticed an unusual looking creature in the bottom of the trap "it's an octopus, it's a jelly fish, IIIT'S THE AMAZING SPIDER CRAB!!!" Jake decided that he wanted to go back with it and amaze his buddy's back at the dock. Jake got to throw the crab back in the water and that's how we ended our day.

Keep the energy flowing guy!!!

Blue, Orange and Green Crabs!

At the Boston Children's Museum, Save the Harbor's biggest attraction is the crabs that we catch and put in our touch tank. While several of the kids who visit our tank are familiar with crabs, several are not aware of the many cool facts about them. For instance, asking the kids whether or not they think legs and claws can grow back always results in wide eyes when you surprise them and say, "Actually ... crabs CAN re-grow their limbs!" Another fact that throws kids off is that not all green crabs are green. In fact, many of them are a dark reddish-orange color. Fortunately, by the time the crab discussion ends, kids walk away from it being able to at least tell how to identify a green crab, and how to tell whether a crab is male or female.

Crab expert Manny showing kids a green crab

Today, our touch tank had two special guests. The first creature was spotted laying on the dock at the Museum. Although it was not alive, the Asteriid Sea Star we found was a hit with the kids in our tank. In the biggest group of visitors, almost every kid wanted a turn holding the sea star as they were fascinated by its rough skin and purple coloring. The second guest came courtesy of Bruce, a nice cooked blue crab. Again, the kids did not seem to mind that our friend was no longer alive. In fact, they were fascinated by this new crab, and we even had a couple of the young girls remove the crab's legs so that they could check out what it looked like inside.

Our newest guests -- the blue crab and sea star

On top of all of this excitement, we also pulled up 33 green crabs and one spider crab for the day. Hopefully in the days to come, the kids are able to explore ever-changing creatures with us!

In awe of the sea star

-Ashley, Senior Harbor Educator at the Boston Children's Museum and Community Boating

Eel Sushi, Anyone?

After the first three days at the Boston Children's Museum, myself, Annie, Tom and Alie were sure of one thing -- that the Fort Point Channel is loaded with crabs. Today alone, we pulled up 29 green crabs, and two irritated spider crabs, annoyed with us as we pulled them out of the crab trap. Around noon, as three of us gathered around the touch tank to show off the crabs to some kids, we looked up to Tom as he slowly pulled up the crab trap with a puzzled look on his face. "Guys, we got a really big fish..." As we ran over, we all became speechless. There in the trap sat a HUGE eel, over 2 feet long and quite wide, squirming around, most likely enjoying digesting the bait we had set in the trap, which was now inevitably in the eel's belly. As perfect timing would have it, 2 tables full of little kids were next to us witnessing this entire event, delighted with our catch of the day. After snapping a few photos, we let our newest friend back into the sea.

Crabs everywhere!

Our surprising catch!

Much to my delight, the day of eels continued once I transitioned to Community Boating for the afternoon. Yesterday, the kids and I had the opportunity to be taken out in a sailboat on the river to set a couple eel traps. Today, via kayak, we discovered that the traps had worked! In one trap close to the shoreline, we pulled up two medium size eels. The kids could hardly wait to touch them! We then kayaked to the opposite side of the river where the other trap had been set -- right by the bridge. This was even better, as we discovered six smallish, squirming eels ready to jump out and free themselves. Because of the excitement surrounding all of the eels today, we decided to put fresh bait inside both traps today and went out again to set them up in two new locations, to be checked on tomorrow! Stay tuned, as our eel saga is sure to continue...

-Ashley, Senior Harbor Educator at Boston Children's Museum and Community Boating

A Sunny Start to Summer!

Yesterday marked our first official day of summer programming, and I was reminded of how wonderful it is to get to spend the day outdoors. I started off the day at the Boston Children's Museum, alongside fellow Senior Harbor Educators and a handful of amazing junior assistants. We all quickly learned that this site is quite different from the others, and the high level of energy required to interact with the public non-stop! Because of its location right on the beautiful Harborwalk, combined with the flow of families visiting the museum, I had the pleasure of educating a large number of kids and their families on the differences between spider crabs and green crabs. Seeing and holding a spider crab for the first time was just as exciting to me as it was to the kids, and they seemed to love feeling the bumps and hairs on its back. Today specifically was a day for green crabs, as we pulled up numerous ones that got caught in our crab trap, fascinating the kids. One kid in particular could not pull himself away from fishing with Alie, as he excitedly told us about how he's in Boston all the way from Los Angeles, and that his next stops are Miami, Paraguay, back to Miami, and then finally back home to L.A. I love hearing stories from kids who have been fortunate enough to travel throughout their young lives, as I know it is benefiting all of us to have them experience different cultures at such early ages!

Alie assisting our young world traveler on the Harborwalk

Each day, I transition from the Children's Museum up to Community Boating on the Esplanade along the Charles River -- one of my personal top 3 favorite spots to enjoy in the city. Most of the kids there today were there yesterday on our first day, and it's great to hear how many different communities they come from including West Roxbury, Malden, Medford, Newton, Chinatown and Cambridge. One thing they all have in common is that they absolutely love fishing, even when the fish don't seem to be biting! One of the kids got extremely lucky today, and caught 24 sunfish just by himself. Our bait is not traditional, rather, we make what we have named "carp cookies," small balls of dough consisting of flour and water, then rolled in sugar. The best part is that the fish go crazy over this concoction, and a couple of the girls love making the dough. With assistance from one of the staff members at Community Boating, our group also had the opportunity to head out onto the river in one of the sailboats. Tomorrow promises to be equally exciting, as eel traps were the talk of the day today, along with more fishing for tomorrow!

Alex, the Sunfish-Catching-Mastermind

Glenn and Carlos showing off their sunfish

-Ashley, Senior Harbor Educator -- Boston Children's Museum & Community Boating