tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11451805734688890652024-03-13T03:04:07.003-07:00Snow Crab LoveMollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.comBlogger279125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-18509237079810437122018-04-20T16:27:00.001-07:002018-04-20T16:27:43.991-07:00Kamaboko: Taking Fake Crab to Another Level<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I just read an article about surimi and how the guy who established it in the US (trying to make a “hot dog of the sea” apparently) is trying to make its production better. Read it <a href="https://www.ktoo.org/2018/04/20/making-a-better-hot-dog-of-the-sea/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about <span id="goog_1258853661"></span>surimi<span id="goog_1258853662"></span> since I was an observer in a plant that produced it. (Which was almost 10 years ago.) But I was wrong!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I knew that </span><a href="https://www.alaskaseafood.org/the-catch/seafood-species/surimi/" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;" target="_blank">surimi</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> is made from ground up pollock and other fishes. It’s often died to look like crab legs and used in California rolls for people who want sushi but don’t want raw fish but somehow logs of pulverized steamed fish are OK.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBsCAhE7KdundgMQcZveP_l38Xt1Ec0axRbLSGwAdvV3AFBCTYVJdFmrk7ERgn0Q_SJ48zFoO9lCiy9fgRGLnt-G6A7mjmVLFQFc-nSFT45ex6k7KFGv0AkU8A_R3Sfy8X1aHfndHEpmc/s1600/Surimi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBsCAhE7KdundgMQcZveP_l38Xt1Ec0axRbLSGwAdvV3AFBCTYVJdFmrk7ERgn0Q_SJ48zFoO9lCiy9fgRGLnt-G6A7mjmVLFQFc-nSFT45ex6k7KFGv0AkU8A_R3Sfy8X1aHfndHEpmc/s1600/Surimi.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>^Not real crab, y'all</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What I didn’t know is that it has another name: kamaboko. And it is had been around for centuries! It was eaten by samurai and nobility – there’s even a <a href="http://www.kamaboko.com/en/" target="_blank">Kamaboko Museum</a> dedicated to “Artisinal Samurai Seafood”.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What’s more fun is that it is colorful and, dare I say it, CUTE! Just check these out:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA2Q9e6t5UIEaBIuxl4AwzKWsAUVDbF5CXGBi0X6GBtRcBdVhw9-WPkVlcGMKtRPWjspjhBmfzYP42APe9J82fJt6LAILkllYjC_QfpILtQeELG1xseOEGL1bOg4UsD7afM0qv6UfArg8/s1600/misoramen2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="427" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA2Q9e6t5UIEaBIuxl4AwzKWsAUVDbF5CXGBi0X6GBtRcBdVhw9-WPkVlcGMKtRPWjspjhBmfzYP42APe9J82fJt6LAILkllYjC_QfpILtQeELG1xseOEGL1bOg4UsD7afM0qv6UfArg8/s640/misoramen2.jpg" width="425" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I was sort of already familiar with <a href="https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-miso-ramen/" target="_blank">these spirally numbers</a></i> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp1A3LbJfRYrZNeNAfr_c_1nlJbwQlOmBoZB77V9ZCRF45nfisFuwrKNNZ2oQjrEwBwOg4eFhyjnvODl9oMER3UwY7Y9_6nZ6tImPvSJ07k5HlvvS8xgLZKc-EzrvndNoKtxhsWG2FlOc/s1600/ramen+with+animal+kamaboko.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="513" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp1A3LbJfRYrZNeNAfr_c_1nlJbwQlOmBoZB77V9ZCRF45nfisFuwrKNNZ2oQjrEwBwOg4eFhyjnvODl9oMER3UwY7Y9_6nZ6tImPvSJ07k5HlvvS8xgLZKc-EzrvndNoKtxhsWG2FlOc/s640/ramen+with+animal+kamaboko.jpg" width="514" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But look at <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/34410384625556468/" target="_blank">these</a> ramen bowl additions!</i> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy-zvVg0yQduAgz8eh4V2XGxaUiBJ4ww73qCA0VvY1H2MmqmY-lrFcppBfLn9GhjnYxQb4PnRBFkVelMyZkLXz7IsIY0JByHXTnRactliVFm8qqGAz_cS-6CaENuKgCY0ktlRkNqyJYKE/s1600/kamaboko+ramen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="273" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy-zvVg0yQduAgz8eh4V2XGxaUiBJ4ww73qCA0VvY1H2MmqmY-lrFcppBfLn9GhjnYxQb4PnRBFkVelMyZkLXz7IsIY0JByHXTnRactliVFm8qqGAz_cS-6CaENuKgCY0ktlRkNqyJYKE/s400/kamaboko+ramen.jpg" width="388" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> <i>And ^<a href="http://www.san-x.co.jp/blog/toretate/2013/09/10-12.html" target="_blank">this</a>^ little Rilakkuma-themed meal from...</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzCd1hyphenhyphenaSAX80G7CBmxf2ql2ow4-lPeKF_nleA5b_1Bnd-av_dnMyEwEjNI4_tL35XrGcbXYvIGO3GlHlcdXV0JTKyPwwf4ONagHltnzJu-6O2Nx88OOJTamx3NvAEHYu4wEeRjZfsy_I/s1600/Rilakkuma-Kamaboko-Fish-Cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzCd1hyphenhyphenaSAX80G7CBmxf2ql2ow4-lPeKF_nleA5b_1Bnd-av_dnMyEwEjNI4_tL35XrGcbXYvIGO3GlHlcdXV0JTKyPwwf4ONagHltnzJu-6O2Nx88OOJTamx3NvAEHYu4wEeRjZfsy_I/s640/Rilakkuma-Kamaboko-Fish-Cake.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> <i>... ^<a href="http://littlemissbento.com/2014/10/rilakkuma-bento-2/" target="_blank">these</a>^ loaves of steamed fish paste!</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzP_zC3Ptsl4hLFaBgxpWP3_ilxTn8rPGVpnFrRoED1amAcqcP3Qyp9NTsQTev482Yt-UaH4fdoLmJXpOkbBmeiRMbLLKXV1BjXrxkp-EMXNSe9-jy7pdeEdX9USPPSPDA1OSU4-dOB6E/s1600/kamaboko+turtle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="377" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzP_zC3Ptsl4hLFaBgxpWP3_ilxTn8rPGVpnFrRoED1amAcqcP3Qyp9NTsQTev482Yt-UaH4fdoLmJXpOkbBmeiRMbLLKXV1BjXrxkp-EMXNSe9-jy7pdeEdX9USPPSPDA1OSU4-dOB6E/s640/kamaboko+turtle.jpg" width="481" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> <i>So. Many. Designs!</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEtcthGjLGcX3myVf5R_DjvLQKsQ_OTP1cG0tnFbYedp7-w1vzNgWJvd_876mS7CphilsGwlSd8jN-mA2cbW0eq3RJp1HL5Hg8uXTkL4yTvDxsWBMYI0Du-8QyBg0B-ddKdBWaPuT5GM/s1600/Kamaboko+animal+cooking+class.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="1101" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEtcthGjLGcX3myVf5R_DjvLQKsQ_OTP1cG0tnFbYedp7-w1vzNgWJvd_876mS7CphilsGwlSd8jN-mA2cbW0eq3RJp1HL5Hg8uXTkL4yTvDxsWBMYI0Du-8QyBg0B-ddKdBWaPuT5GM/s640/Kamaboko+animal+cooking+class.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>You can take classes on how to make these awesome treats at the <a href="http://www.kamaboko.com/en/make-kamaboko/" target="_blank">Kamaboko Museum</a>, too!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You guys, I kind of fell down the kamaboko rabbit hole with this. There are <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m2Eb33M6eY" target="_blank">videos</a> you can watch on how to shape your rolls into flowers and bunnies. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I broke my blog-writing hiatus simply because I needed to share this fish art with you all! And w</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">hile the </span><a href="https://www.ktoo.org/2018/04/20/making-a-better-hot-dog-of-the-sea/" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;" target="_blank">surimi dude</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> that sent me on this Pinterest-image-searching bonanza works on reducing food waste during production, I'd lobby hard for also increasing cuteness in design.</span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-79941572807562404762017-03-02T13:20:00.002-08:002017-03-02T13:21:47.623-08:00Oh snow!<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The snow crab population in the eastern Bering Sea is experiencing a decline which affected the 2016/2017 fishery, which I reported <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2016/10/big-trouble-in-little-bering-sea.html" target="_blank">here</a>. That fishery is just now finishing up with the first boat loaded and headed home (shared by the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AlaskaBeringSeaCrabbers/" target="_blank">Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers</a>). How that fishery performed and how that population is affected will have cascading impacts on market prices, new snow crab products (like <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2017/02/this-is-testing-my-resolve-yall.html" target="_blank">McDonald's snow crab sandwich</a>), next year's population health, and next year's fishery catch limits.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That's the Alaska side. What about Canada's snow crab fishery? They're probably doing good, eh? I mean, they have this guy:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEopvwcfjS-bQQhHIKFsw7QAskSimS_lr4QMKWPCKSfPVHAjkrVRu4JHaOh9Dph0hdxxpjIwn3W2BZXWG4fd9skqi3S4Vn9QrMKPq0Jt9z-Bx2OZtgo8vu_ZpSLVQo1PjY4iX0Jkqm7G8/s1600/PM+Trudeau.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="331.25" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEopvwcfjS-bQQhHIKFsw7QAskSimS_lr4QMKWPCKSfPVHAjkrVRu4JHaOh9Dph0hdxxpjIwn3W2BZXWG4fd9skqi3S4Vn9QrMKPq0Jt9z-Bx2OZtgo8vu_ZpSLVQo1PjY4iX0Jkqm7G8/s500/PM+Trudeau.jpg" width="500" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(source: New York Times)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sadly, even Justin Trudeau can't help the snow crabs. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) just released their <a href="http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/sustainable-durable/fisheries-peches/snow-crab-eng.htm" target="_blank">snow crab</a> stock assessment which shows that the biomass of legal crab for the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery has declined by 80% since 2013.</span><br />
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<b>EIGHTY PERCENT!!!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You guys. That's so bad. As Darrell Mullowney of the DFO says, "<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/snow-crab-stock-assessment-1.4001411" target="_blank">It's not a good news story.</a>" Or as Keith Sullivan of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union says, "<a href="https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2017/02/28/newfoundland-and-labrador-sees-significant-snow-crab-decrease/" target="_blank">It's terrible</a>, terrible news for people in the industry." Yeah man, terrible for the industry AND terrible for the crabs and their ecosystem. Remember, humans aren't the only ones who like to eat snow crabs. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240809533_Atlantic_cod_and_snow_crab_predator-prey_size_relationship_in_the_Gulf_of_St_Lawrence_Canada">Atlantic cods do too</a>, and they haven't really been living high on the hog anyway (what with its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse_of_the_Atlantic_northwest_cod_fishery" target="_blank">collapse in 1992</a>).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_pp8TTGQqaeXWXDdVPQbv7Q9wUbUXD9C2Pm6uwAexMGMdSMzdiACF2vGW1_N5SUVaaWgzO8h_sFuE63dw0u5UfaXCS23gE8fI9-UYjn51xvhsbenEA19LcHYRx6ZJXzF-nNe2sMUgXuc/s1600/Atlantic+cod.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="333.75" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_pp8TTGQqaeXWXDdVPQbv7Q9wUbUXD9C2Pm6uwAexMGMdSMzdiACF2vGW1_N5SUVaaWgzO8h_sFuE63dw0u5UfaXCS23gE8fI9-UYjn51xvhsbenEA19LcHYRx6ZJXzF-nNe2sMUgXuc/s500/Atlantic+cod.JPG" width="500" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Atlantic cod Gadus morhua (source: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joachim_s_mueller/4500454139/in/photolist-7RG1dT-7RG1og-7RQAc8-7RKh65-7RG22D-7RRfZ3-7RN1hi-7RN1Ca-7RRgDQ-7RRfGE-7RG12T-7RTQBj-7RRfLU" target="_blank">Joachim S. Müller</a>)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So it seems that our Bering Sea opies aren't the only ones facing declines. Again, Mullowney commented on the global scale of depressed snow crab stocks, particularly in their southern most areas: "</span><span style="background-color: white;">The magnitude of this in terms of socioeconomics I can't really quantify.</span><span style="background-color: white;">" We'll have to wait and see.</span></span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-82483751621704625072017-02-21T10:29:00.004-08:002017-02-21T10:29:55.435-08:00This is testing my resolve, y'all<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A while back I wrote a pretty honest blog about my feelings regarding <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2016/02/lobster-rolls-are-waste-of-time-money.html" target="_blank">lobster rolls</a>. TL/DR: they're trash. Cut to last week when I saw this:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi12Wra5NgMrwwlDBQuHEJ-Zd7t2sm7iQKu1KjP4raoB5gLz007ESZ-YWVvYWuMcXE1NflZQs6eMuY7g_I3dAIifYtJLGUbewSCtnHBzDmKrDV5KqFTFDUyC1LCaF4kaUPQNobZPAJgEv8/s1600/Crab+Sandwich+McDs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi12Wra5NgMrwwlDBQuHEJ-Zd7t2sm7iQKu1KjP4raoB5gLz007ESZ-YWVvYWuMcXE1NflZQs6eMuY7g_I3dAIifYtJLGUbewSCtnHBzDmKrDV5KqFTFDUyC1LCaF4kaUPQNobZPAJgEv8/s320/Crab+Sandwich+McDs.jpg" width="500" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">McDonald's is testing out a "<a href="http://www.delish.com/food-news/a51502/mcdonalds-snow-crab-sandwich-california/" target="_blank">snow crab sandwich</a>" in San Francisco and I have SO MANY QUESTIONS!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. YAY snow crab!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2. Wait, is it really snow crab <i>Chionoecetes opilio</i>? "Snow crab" could be <i>Chionoecetes bairdi</i> aka Tanner crab, or <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/02/crab-by-any-other-name.html" target="_blank">something else</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. Is it 100% "snow crab" or a mix like those nasty, <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2016/02/lobster-rolls-are-waste-of-time-money.html" target="_blank">nasty lobster rolls</a>?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">4. Shoot, is this just another waste of good meat that should be happily dipped in garlic butter? Do I hold crab, even snow crab, to the same high standard of lobster? Because I love <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/10/crab-dip-for-crab-defense.html" target="_blank">crab dip</a> so much, do I really have room to judge a crab sandwich? (No. The answer is No.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. Opies and Tanners are having a rough time, population-wise, in the Bering Sea, with both stocks in decline and the <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2016/10/big-trouble-in-little-bering-sea.html" target="_blank">Tanner fishery not even opened</a>. If this sandwich does well, how will the demand of a fast food empire affect the snow crab market? Bering Sea <i>opilio</i> price-per-pound is already high (<a href="http://www.pspafish.net/index.php/february-15-2017/" target="_blank">over $8.00 compared to last year's $5.90</a>) because of the decline in population and subsequent decline in fishery production.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you are in the Bay Area and are feeling adventurous, try out the new sandwich and let me know what you think!</span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-69226109555818251472016-10-07T14:46:00.001-07:002016-10-07T14:46:40.002-07:00Big Trouble in Little Bering Sea<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Oh man, you guys. This is a doozy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I posted a brief Tanner crab (<i>Chionoecetes bairdi</i>) update from <a href="http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/applications/dcfnewsrelease/749469996.pdf" target="_blank">Alaska Department of Fish and Game</a> yesterday on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SnowCrabLove/" target="_blank">Facebook</a>. TL;DR - the Bering Sea fishery for bairdis is closed for the 2016/2017 season.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The bairdi fishery in the Bering Sea has had a rocky past with openings and closures fluctuating throughout the years, but it was starting to look good again even as recently as 2015! The fishery was closed from 1997 - 2004, open fully 2006 - 2009, closed again from 2010 - 2013, then open fully until 2015 with high catches and high vessel participation (112 vessels in the 2015/2016 season compared to 32 in 2013/2014).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2mN6buMxIny6f_a6JziwsXvA47N38RTQ8MLhWqdYRY02i9Z3r3BeyE580XVGy8W_SHx1W5lbpHPJ8tKD-ea2nJ59YWMIah5ypIIpcfmfPq5WQx4AGVoCF4CYR0-knmWjtXw7JEJC83E/s1600/Tanner+crab+fishery+2016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="326.5" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2mN6buMxIny6f_a6JziwsXvA47N38RTQ8MLhWqdYRY02i9Z3r3BeyE580XVGy8W_SHx1W5lbpHPJ8tKD-ea2nJ59YWMIah5ypIIpcfmfPq5WQx4AGVoCF4CYR0-knmWjtXw7JEJC83E/s500/Tanner+crab+fishery+2016.JPG" width="500" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">from the 2016 crab SAFE data</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You can read all about the fishery in the latest Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands stock assessment and fishery management report (in nerd lingo - the<b> crab SAFE</b>), which is put out by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Here's a <a href="http://www.npfmc.org/fishery-management-plan-team/bsai-crab-plan-team/" target="_blank">link to the Crab Plan Team</a> with all their fun reports, and <a href="http://www.npfmc.org/upcoming-council-meetings/" target="_blank">this link</a> will send you to the current Council meeting (happening now) where you can find the 2016 crab SAFE in the Agenda. It's listed under "<b>C. Major Issues/Final Action Items</b>" as the first item.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">OK, so that's bairdi, but you all know I really love me some opies. How are they doing?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not good. ADF&G announced that Bering Sea snow crab will be open this year (October 15th, <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/10/october-opies.html" target="_blank">as usual</a>) but with the lowest total allowable catch (TAC) in 45 years. <a href="http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/applications/dcfnewsrelease/749876051.pdf" target="_blank">The low TAC, at 21.57 million pounds,</a> is nearly <b>HALF</b> of what it was last year (40.57 million pounds)! Why? Because surveys of the crabs have shown a decline in the number of mature males out there (who we like to eat) AND mature females out there (who make the babies).</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLV5Ymdl0RCs_R7BAxYsRRc7d6zEpy3Ab4QyrErB5qZrK1o-hI-_c2q1DLlmnPxbsK5I-0AtzZy7DI-wZGf2eUX9SBbrJ7GFcPiCq7B_r1YR3lv7RNSrYUbnmzUrimyaiLjYd3ostFfUI/s1600/Snow+crab+biomass.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLV5Ymdl0RCs_R7BAxYsRRc7d6zEpy3Ab4QyrErB5qZrK1o-hI-_c2q1DLlmnPxbsK5I-0AtzZy7DI-wZGf2eUX9SBbrJ7GFcPiCq7B_r1YR3lv7RNSrYUbnmzUrimyaiLjYd3ostFfUI/s500/Snow+crab+biomass.JPG" width="500" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">from the 2016 crab SAFE data</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This low baby-makin' biomass means potentially fewer adults in the future. That's why management has to be so conservative to allow for the crabs to do their business and replenish the stock. But for the moment it also means low catches and A LOT less money for our crab fishermen, processors, and on down the line. The other thing fishermen have to worry about is any accidental retention of bairdis since that fishery is closed, making these crab-cousins prohibited.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSRC17Kehg5XYRRck3hvleiWo3fodL-CTTNOzn87hrnEWJIcA_RKPFBFIbLk4VcEUfVHE_U_VwZy08yLFsnv_qbajpbkepFvv4mtfv8_AAbVVxaSjFTFu-2f330HtQ5yYO9QhWEC1_A0U/s1600/opilio+bairdi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSRC17Kehg5XYRRck3hvleiWo3fodL-CTTNOzn87hrnEWJIcA_RKPFBFIbLk4VcEUfVHE_U_VwZy08yLFsnv_qbajpbkepFvv4mtfv8_AAbVVxaSjFTFu-2f330HtQ5yYO9QhWEC1_A0U/s500/opilio+bairdi.jpg" width="500" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">opilio up top, bairdi on bottom</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Good luck, crabs!</b></span></div>
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Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-2651170409054214172016-04-06T11:46:00.001-07:002016-04-06T11:46:19.750-07:00Shrimp Publication!<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Remember WAY back in the day when I shared these <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/06/giving-whole-new-meaning-to-shrimp.html" target="_blank">photos of shrimp embryos</a>?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8YWxImPrzqFlfCwgP5wY0dMMzR_lN9xADpJffmkoxdk3O4w5AMUSmO1DIXNOCZHO3u84zOSzcd0emG9mxx_ZeCW8JShlIKYifWa7q7f340GsTyPATQmCN80NZbfOsqwqL6ItPbmmwBU/s1600/spot34_01s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8YWxImPrzqFlfCwgP5wY0dMMzR_lN9xADpJffmkoxdk3O4w5AMUSmO1DIXNOCZHO3u84zOSzcd0emG9mxx_ZeCW8JShlIKYifWa7q7f340GsTyPATQmCN80NZbfOsqwqL6ItPbmmwBU/s500/spot34_01s.jpg" width="500" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzNSz6d4rGctfT86B5pCrCIW9qsU2_NzJ-RcViEUyqxWJQO6Cy7C6h-9Q6slGYKkriMKxz_lxx2ZO3999tdbzILeYSHJ1pvP-a5kcs9-quA-H44W-norDpsGGQTacXloyPJd9tqtAK-BM/s1600/coon07_01s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="443.75" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzNSz6d4rGctfT86B5pCrCIW9qsU2_NzJ-RcViEUyqxWJQO6Cy7C6h-9Q6slGYKkriMKxz_lxx2ZO3999tdbzILeYSHJ1pvP-a5kcs9-quA-H44W-norDpsGGQTacXloyPJd9tqtAK-BM/s500/coon07_01s.jpg" width="500" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">spot shrimp and coonstripe shrimp embryos</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was processing shrimp collected from different sites around <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valdez,_Alaska" target="_blank">Port Valdez</a> for hydrocarbon analysis. Polynuclear aromatic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrocarbon" target="_blank">hydrocarbons</a> (PAHs) are simply compounds made up of hydrogen and carbon that occur in crude oil. They = not so good for human consumption, or for animals, or for nature in general (see the <a href="http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/index.cfm?FA=status.injured" target="_blank">Exxon Valdex Oil Spill</a>). So this project looked at whether or not shrimp collected near oil tanker operations were safe to eat. My role was properly dissecting the shrimp and separating them by body part - tails (the most-often eaten item), heads (sucked on - not my style), and eggs (oy, I'll get to this one). And now the <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00244-016-0279-3" target="_blank">results have been published</a>! Woo!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqrc9ojlAL_8MwvosTtklsMNpFGwS0wFVe1Hqto9ZBsNQo4vhxOQw3GSUgWjkpe8789Q-gJULgN6G6CXNkRvlune0C5FCEdESyXnJXZTnOnvxpDVNWuvwzkYZ996jMVDjRMq0PazFfFfA/s1600/pink60_07s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="357.8" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqrc9ojlAL_8MwvosTtklsMNpFGwS0wFVe1Hqto9ZBsNQo4vhxOQw3GSUgWjkpe8789Q-gJULgN6G6CXNkRvlune0C5FCEdESyXnJXZTnOnvxpDVNWuvwzkYZ996jMVDjRMq0PazFfFfA/s500/pink60_07s.jpg" width="500" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">pink shrimp embryos</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Let's cut to the chase: <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00244-016-0279-3" target="_blank">the majority of everything was safe</a> with the small exception of eggs! ... </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And here's where I get on my soapbox: we shouldn't be harvesting reproductive females in any fishery that we hope can be sustainable. The </span><a href="file:///C:/Users/mzaleski/Downloads/ES-2011-4004.pdf" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">lobstermen on the East Coast</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> know this and v-notch the tails of reproductive female lobsters before returning them so that (a) they have a chance to hatch those delicious babies and (b) even when they're not gravid (showing eggs on the underside of their tails), it's known that these gals can get the job done for future years of successful harvests. Long story short - you shouldn't be eating the potentially tainted shrimp eggs from Port Valdez anyway! (Honestly, most </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">shrimp you buy</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> in general are terrible [high bycatch in trawl shrimping, </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/business/worldbusiness/20iht-rbogcoast.1.11278833.html" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">pollution from farmed shrimp</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/15/the-shocking-truth-about-shrimp-today/" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">slavery in shrimp processing</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, etc.] so unless you or your friend are catching shrimp using pots, you should just avoid 'em.)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfvew2PCK6Zk8YL7oqcjmrkHzvDOf8mNW4FbtM3KoDv4Hd0NIGCJ3qIUlPfWQ9WygEFiV-iJiEXvDoU5ryg9iG91zMo5XVwsAklzY_Vdy8m-PGF93XAZ-Zzkd-DCjFjoIV57EdhHZ2qQM/s1600/shrimp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="242.1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfvew2PCK6Zk8YL7oqcjmrkHzvDOf8mNW4FbtM3KoDv4Hd0NIGCJ3qIUlPfWQ9WygEFiV-iJiEXvDoU5ryg9iG91zMo5XVwsAklzY_Vdy8m-PGF93XAZ-Zzkd-DCjFjoIV57EdhHZ2qQM/s500/shrimp.jpg" width="500" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(Disclaimer: that's just my opinion, well thought out though it may be, and doesn't reflect the opinion of any organization for which I've done research.)</span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-73958427122605165142016-02-10T15:59:00.000-08:002016-04-11T12:21:01.537-07:00Lobster rolls are a waste of time, money, and lobsters<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I've said it before and I'll say it again: lobster rolls are a waste of stomach space. Why spend money on lobster that's drowned in mayonnaise and miscellaneous spices and thrown on a bun when you could have fresh boiled lobster with liquid gold aka melted butter? Isn't the point of eating lobster to enjoy the taste of lobster? If you want mayo on a bun there are so many better things to eat: BLTs for example! (PS, I feel the same way about lobster macaroni and cheese. Just, no.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVUxK4AOrKV_JXnsXKCfRBxtFRiuegBoIUVT6NCYBrpGlV1TCzVn3HUv_XLVb4hzR_HMApd7Ms6CN8e95otAQVaKG7SBB4BGv_3n6ApeD1gQxlRnwk6l653rZEG38fMfo6D8rV5Ao44FE/s500/lobster+roll.jpg" width="500" /></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">leave the lobster roll, take the fried clams</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(does anyone else wish they were cannoli?)</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(photo source: <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/nathans-famous-brooklyn-5?select=rCS9mw5lpyYvmmPTrJhshA" target="_blank">yelp</a>)</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Where is this rant coming from? Recently different groups have been cracking down on <a href="http://oceana.org//our-campaigns/seafood_fraud/campaign" target="_blank">seafood fraud</a> - the mislabeling of food as higher quality products. For example, an Oceana study found that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/29/science/though-labeled-wild-that-serving-of-salmon-may-be-farmed-or-faux.html?_r=0" target="_blank">43% of salmon</a> sold in restaurants and grocery stores from places like New York and Chicago were mislabeled, and the most common wrongful ID was calling farmed salmon "wild-caught". That's a HUGE no-no for this wild-caught Alaskan salmon-loving gal!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Where lobster rolls come in is that another study by <a href="http://www.insideedition.com/headlines/14518-a-third-of-tested-restaurant-lobster-dishes-actually-contain-cheaper-fish-meat-investigation-shows" target="_blank">Inside Edition</a> showed that many restaurants selling lobster rolls, lobster ravioli, and other heavily-processed lobster dishes are actually serving cheap lobster substitutes like "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langostino">langostino</a>" (aka squat lobsters, which you may know are more closely <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/09/abominable-snowcrab.html" target="_blank">related to crabs</a> than true lobsters). Less egregious but equally shady is serving actual lobster cut with other things like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiting_(fish)" target="_blank">whiting</a>, a common name for several white-meat fish like pollock or hake.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the investigation, one third of the tested "lobster" meat was mislabelled! And the thing is, most people probably couldn't tell because their "lobster" was smothered in mayo! So I don't feel too bad for people who were bamboozled, but I think it's wrong nonetheless. An interesting point that was raised during this investigation is that <a href="http://www.insideedition.com/headlines/14518-a-third-of-tested-restaurant-lobster-dishes-actually-contain-cheaper-fish-meat-investigation-shows" target="_blank">one restaurateur said they did nothing wrong</a> with mixing fish in to their lobster roll: (A) some people just use a frozen pre-mixed melange of seafood, of which lobster makes up an unknown percentage, for their lobster rolls, and (B) mixing lobster with things like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWRg-udsl68" target="_blank">surimi</a> (that fake crab meat made from ground up pollock) and selling it as "lobster salad" should just imply to you, the costumer, that you're getting more than what you're paying for (and by "more" I mean "less"). And I'm not really knocking surimi - I like California rolls as much as the next person, and I was an observer in a fish processing plant that made surimi, so I've seen it from start to finish!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBv7tCpu6tXio2qcgc43cSK1c8eFPATQHJcPFkd0J1cFQVFWZl7_LLogON9Nl3Zt3rSKU7l2GAEt-k8nAP7dLQXwOAdvKOTCW4nNZ5f_euQC8Fk09nog6yDn4ifusxPVrcVlGRUPKNozc/s1600/Surimi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBv7tCpu6tXio2qcgc43cSK1c8eFPATQHJcPFkd0J1cFQVFWZl7_LLogON9Nl3Zt3rSKU7l2GAEt-k8nAP7dLQXwOAdvKOTCW4nNZ5f_euQC8Fk09nog6yDn4ifusxPVrcVlGRUPKNozc/s400/Surimi.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Mmmm, I can still smell the ground pollock from here!
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Anyway, do yourself a favor: next time you want lobster, just order the whole thing with a side of garlic butter, put on a bib, and enjoy pure crustaceany goodness!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAhP82-1xnunuvjJnQz_RsQOT7zPsGXSRlQoZtMXjjkTZwWWlnso_mRam3ezyfnNZptqNj92VOuuLuC6Rwm61XNOpRORHOdTz7c8Wq37yFR7Fcmuo989pqJhEjHF1Wj3OGYnixUwlf-Fo/s1600/Maine-lobster-boil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAhP82-1xnunuvjJnQz_RsQOT7zPsGXSRlQoZtMXjjkTZwWWlnso_mRam3ezyfnNZptqNj92VOuuLuC6Rwm61XNOpRORHOdTz7c8Wq37yFR7Fcmuo989pqJhEjHF1Wj3OGYnixUwlf-Fo/s500/Maine-lobster-boil.jpg" width="331.25" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">this is how you do it! (shananana-na-nana)</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(photo from <a href="http://honestlyyum.com/10984/maine-lobster-boil/" target="_blank">Honestly Yum</a>)</span></i></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-44971942951070470202015-12-03T10:33:00.000-08:002015-12-03T10:33:44.062-08:00Caution for California crab lovers<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A nasty little algae has been blooming like crazy lately (<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/massive-toxic-algae-blooms-may-prove-a-sign-of-climate-change-to-come/" target="_blank">thanks, global warming</a>!) and it's having some pretty serious consequences for Dungeness-loving consumers in California. The diatom, <i>Pseudo-nitzschia sp.</i>, produces domoic acid, and at the high productivity rate it's experiencing because of warmer ocean conditions, the domoic acid is startin' trouble. When consumed at high concentrations, domoic acid can cause seizures, comas, and death! Yikes! It also causes short-term memory loss, so when people (or animals) get it from eating shellfish, it's known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesic_shellfish_poisoning" target="_blank">Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning</a>. (Remember learning about Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-prepare-and-cook-dungeness-crab.html" target="_blank">here</a>?) The domoic acid bioaccumulates in filter feeders like clams, mussels, and crabs (!!!) who just want to munch on some phytoplankton.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoxywwHP_WMm_0X3hI-GP_FlMG8wIuMObVjLCWiRLoPjc9tM9weyMmmvD15AVilP2Xd4mHepbnc6bVpQm6YbTTGJLFeN8i17IJcuL4tsOdLMTQiAMkhmQ8XVaTd-kmapGN0VvIfV3pSYE/s1600/Dungie+Brian+Feulner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="339" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoxywwHP_WMm_0X3hI-GP_FlMG8wIuMObVjLCWiRLoPjc9tM9weyMmmvD15AVilP2Xd4mHepbnc6bVpQm6YbTTGJLFeN8i17IJcuL4tsOdLMTQiAMkhmQ8XVaTd-kmapGN0VvIfV3pSYE/s500/Dungie+Brian+Feulner.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Lay off me, I'm starving!" - Metacarcinus magister (PC <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Don-t-eat-Dungeness-crab-California-health-6608939.php" target="_blank">Brian Feulner</a>)</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Speaking of crabs, California has <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/California-politicians-seek-potential-disaster-6655486.php#photo-8992406" target="_blank">closed its recreational and commercial crab seasons</a> for both Dungeness and rock crabs because of this domoic acid contamination! This closure not only affects consumers (in a good way, really, because DEATH), but also the fishermen themselves who rely on these crabs for their livelihood. So it's kinda a lose-lose situation at the moment: fishermen lose money and their ability to pay their bills-bills-bills, or consumers run the risk of short-term memory loss, paralysis, and death.</span><br />
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
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This is the algae producing the acid that has halted <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/dungeness?src=hash">#dungeness</a> crab season. Here come the researchers… <a href="https://t.co/1RcddYyj4C">pic.twitter.com/1RcddYyj4C</a></div>
— Wayne Freedman (@WayneFreedman) <a href="https://twitter.com/WayneFreedman/status/663897640241774592">November 10, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">How realistic is this concern? Well, <a href="http://juneauempire.com/outdoors/2015-11-27/more-otters-washing-cause-remains-unknown" target="_blank">dead sea otters</a> have been reported with domoic acid in their systems, <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/record-setting-bloom-toxic-algae-north-pacific" target="_blank">several large whales</a> have washed up dead and the toxic diatom is a suspect (PS, the dog in the 3rd picture is adorable!), and even this little <a href="http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Toxin-in-crab-among-impacts-of-warm-sea-that-6617583.php?cmpid=gsa-sfgate-result" target="_blank">sea lion pup</a> was poisoned <i>in utero</i>:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN90MUwRBkS-9gQmVty3NBCME2uwObvAZ-S6TS-QVjZldrn9NBmLL0HPiNMLFn5dT9KqTEMPeq5tzNoGxZQiNVw-LownhNbmEBDWOhnDStfWfOUBgiZX-X64jKbrxNQmjrqEvbcXjiohk/s1600/sea+lion+Danzig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="368.75" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN90MUwRBkS-9gQmVty3NBCME2uwObvAZ-S6TS-QVjZldrn9NBmLL0HPiNMLFn5dT9KqTEMPeq5tzNoGxZQiNVw-LownhNbmEBDWOhnDStfWfOUBgiZX-X64jKbrxNQmjrqEvbcXjiohk/s500/sea+lion+Danzig.jpg" width="500" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><i>little Danzig in recovery, lucky guy! (PC Paul Chinn, The Chronicle)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Cuteness aside, it's an issue that needs to be monitored, and all my dungie-loving people out there should remain cautious about where your crab were caught and how they were prepared!</span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-44509107533338013252015-07-24T11:18:00.001-07:002015-07-24T11:18:32.925-07:00Wearable crabs<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">OK, you know I love me some good crab swag (see <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/02/t-shirt-craft-by-amazing-amelia.html" target="_blank">exhibit A </a>(for 'awesome', and 'Amelia')), but a new company is taking crab swag up a notch! <a href="http://tidalvisionusa.com/" target="_blank">Tidal Vision</a> is going to take the old carapaces of snow crabs and turn them into shirts and other clothes! Doesn't that sound amazing?!? And strange, potentially smelly, and likely scratchy?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Y0r2Dpv9qdJ9CTUpHA6KgT7P_a-CIX7Gbe9jySt82hyQEiggLK7WfZUp5XHItBvHP0kmouuoBqQuGJf2KfB4srPC8rPpzDZgeteaOUHavWQ9OLu7ex0qBwPEvNVZKU5rv-3JRdyWMwk/s1600/Maru+in+king+crab+hat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Y0r2Dpv9qdJ9CTUpHA6KgT7P_a-CIX7Gbe9jySt82hyQEiggLK7WfZUp5XHItBvHP0kmouuoBqQuGJf2KfB4srPC8rPpzDZgeteaOUHavWQ9OLu7ex0qBwPEvNVZKU5rv-3JRdyWMwk/s1600/Maru+in+king+crab+hat.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">not that <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MaruTheCatFans" target="_blank">Maru</a> minds...</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nope, don't worry: <a href="http://tidalvisionusa.com/" target="_blank">Tidal Vision</a> assures that the fabric feels similar to cotton. And a bonus is that it has natural anti-bacterial and -microbial properties! Because of those properties, they're marketing the shirts as performance wear called "<a href="http://tidalvisionusa.com/chitoskin/" target="_blank">Chitoskin</a>". Brilliant!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So what is chitosan, you're asking? Chitosan comes from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitin" target="_blank">chitin</a>, which is what crustacean shells are made of. By <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitosan" target="_blank">treating chitin</a> with sodium hydroxide (NaOH aka lye), you get chitosan! Those of you who took high school chemistry may remember using sodium hydroxide to increase the pH of an acidic solution. Mmmm, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_hydroxide" target="_blank">titrations</a>!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">ANYWAY, Tidal Vision is using snow crab shells, as well as <a href="http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/02/06/fish-wallets-and-crab-shirts-fisherman-stops-catching-fish-and-starts-recycling" target="_blank">salmon skins</a> for wallets and belts, to reduce waste from the fisheries. That's something I can definitely wear proudly!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRI4dft-0yy4n1pYYJwXKvqeTY-MBCm03Vhu1P5qJr2FcfO-1iTfc42nIf_ouCBbxgWC2qitar2R5V7FADtiTDLa-ddJCYdImR8bCaQVrQ9OKZf0LCx3_SFaY39RscwfeE1j-ErufWo4/s1600/salmon+leather+wallet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRI4dft-0yy4n1pYYJwXKvqeTY-MBCm03Vhu1P5qJr2FcfO-1iTfc42nIf_ouCBbxgWC2qitar2R5V7FADtiTDLa-ddJCYdImR8bCaQVrQ9OKZf0LCx3_SFaY39RscwfeE1j-ErufWo4/s400/salmon+leather+wallet.jpg" width="550" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TidalVisionUSA" target="_blank">Tidal Vision</a>)</span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">OH MY GOSH, by the way, I guess the whole cat-in-a-crab-hat thing happens <a href="http://petslady.com/articles/chitin_kittens_japans_top_10_crab_hat_cats_59899" target="_blank">A LOT in Japan</a>! I will post photos of my cats if I get them wearing Dungies!</span></span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-80719870995420912472015-06-19T18:34:00.001-07:002015-06-19T18:34:06.893-07:00Crab Carpet!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Red tuna crabs (<i style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">Pleuroncodes planipes</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">) have washed up on <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33195695" target="_blank">Californian shores</a>!</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgog-oMW9NM0SBBWkH3b8pKzfZj49rgUFl1qe7nxybeLxOXi_XgNKIRBWO75Hs6vABFZsupJyzn91vfIU9Gzjrx53zBiLuS_4EExOQyaCwbRQ0r0n78mUvfABUMUTjVzambEJCFB1Ze2mE/s1600/red+tuna+crab+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328.75" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgog-oMW9NM0SBBWkH3b8pKzfZj49rgUFl1qe7nxybeLxOXi_XgNKIRBWO75Hs6vABFZsupJyzn91vfIU9Gzjrx53zBiLuS_4EExOQyaCwbRQ0r0n78mUvfABUMUTjVzambEJCFB1Ze2mE/s500/red+tuna+crab+2.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>(photo from <a href="http://fox2now.com/2015/06/17/red-tuna-crabs-wash-up-on-san-diego-beaches-by-the-thousands/" target="_blank">here</a>)</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">Cue the line for cocktail sauce! These little crabs are actually squat lobsters (similar to my favorite <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/09/abominable-snowcrab.html" target="_blank">squat lobster</a>, the <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/12/whats-better-than-picture-of-yeti-crab.html" target="_blank">yeti crab</a>), and are also called '</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><span lang="es" xml:lang="es">langostilla'. They get the name 'tuna crab' because they're a favorite meal for tuna! (Mmmm, crab-stuffed tuna...) Anyways, warm ocean currents may have carried them too close to shore for these little guys to avoid getting beached, but this happens sometimes when they <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleuroncodes_planipes" target="_blank">swarm together in order to mate</a>. So... that didn't go so well for them...</span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3QjAovACKkr-7N63q91c1vQuPgvIrTPIxx48_Hok21tk0sWxcyErgid9TQmQ47LciZ-OO6bzJhJq6B8raf3PhX9xlQCFniaw_cHELpUnusw6vzdNcdeSvYozdvnpSA5HRB28MoKW-lPs/s1600/red+tuna+crab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="332.5" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3QjAovACKkr-7N63q91c1vQuPgvIrTPIxx48_Hok21tk0sWxcyErgid9TQmQ47LciZ-OO6bzJhJq6B8raf3PhX9xlQCFniaw_cHELpUnusw6vzdNcdeSvYozdvnpSA5HRB28MoKW-lPs/s500/red+tuna+crab.jpg" width="500" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><span lang="es" xml:lang="es"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(photo: <a href="http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/jun/12/tuna-crabs-oceanbeach/" target="_blank">John Gibbins</a>)</span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><span lang="es" xml:lang="es"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Read more about other crab strandings <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/04/crabs-phuket-or-bust.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-devil.html" target="_blank">here</a>, and <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/08/krill-kill.html" target="_blank">here</a> for krill!</span></span></span></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-83171717762107026062015-02-10T17:34:00.001-08:002015-02-10T17:34:43.900-08:00long lost family members<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When you think of lobster relatives you probably picture crabs and shrimp, not cockroaches and dragonflies. But it turns out that they may be more closely related than we originally thought! Researchers recently came together during the <a href="http://www.sicb.org/meetings/2015/" target="_blank">Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology</a> meeting to discuss a reorganization of the family tree. Basically, instead of insects and crustaceans being separate branches, they may be part of the same branch called '<b>Pancrustacea</b>':</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijmF_r2TGeAlsKUD9xPDks1pKYuSSUWPsM6kqHJvkEIW7vuEfj6YKTG8ylZNUH_uGz2uJNlxNUlT8pTzVftA6qXpm0z8aIqfj85Ghc5AVE1-GuwSBN_fygSoTWJVA1jlgfBgoxlAPtwg/s1600/Pancrustacea.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijmF_r2TGeAlsKUD9xPDks1pKYuSSUWPsM6kqHJvkEIW7vuEfj6YKTG8ylZNUH_uGz2uJNlxNUlT8pTzVftA6qXpm0z8aIqfj85Ghc5AVE1-GuwSBN_fygSoTWJVA1jlgfBgoxlAPtwg/s1600/Pancrustacea.JPG" height="227.5" width="500" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This <a href="http://www.sicb.org/meetings/2015/symposia/pancrustacea.php" target="_blank">special symposium</a> was co-organized by my <strike>Master's advisor</strike> friend, Sherry Tamone! In the past, researchers have noticed similarities between insects and crustaceans, but their methods for studying them differed. There are more genetic resources for insects while crustacean researchers focus on hormones (<a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2014/10/im-getting-published.html" target="_blank">like me!</a>). But, using this symposium as an example, they're coming together to find similarities. Take <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2010/11/yes-tina-turner-you-had-question.html" target="_blank">methyl farnesoate</a> and insect juvenile hormone: they control growth and <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2010/09/its-bit-early-for-halloween.html" target="_blank">maturation</a> in crustaceans and insects, respectively, but are inactive in their arthropod counter part. The link is that production of both are limited by the same enzymes!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheqW5n-SYEJy9DOukUS7JEqnLQN2hKvxj6XILqmLfRo9anspYp2IH1oj_9oDdAuzxpkZZLGri0f795ovvMWefb-fHilPBF76ZKBJRUgCe3XfbaanWWL0bS3hGokBz83eYWo25brgVI22k/s1600/terpenoids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheqW5n-SYEJy9DOukUS7JEqnLQN2hKvxj6XILqmLfRo9anspYp2IH1oj_9oDdAuzxpkZZLGri0f795ovvMWefb-fHilPBF76ZKBJRUgCe3XfbaanWWL0bS3hGokBz83eYWo25brgVI22k/s1600/terpenoids.jpg" height="500" width="497" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">sesquiterpenoids represent!</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As Sherry says, "We should get comfortable eating crickets. It's all one big group." You can read more in <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/gca?sendit.y=8&gca=sci%3B347%2F6219%2F220&journalcode=sci&journalcode=sigtrans&journalcode=scitransmed&journalcode=sci&journalcode=sigtrans&journalcode=scitransmed&sendit=Get%20all%20checked%20abstract%28s%29" target="_blank">Science</a> and check out abstracts from the symposium <a href="http://www.sicb.org/meetings/2015/symposia/pancrustacea.php" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-67196066292417451492015-01-26T15:44:00.000-08:002015-01-26T15:44:48.535-08:00Crabs rock!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Check out this awesome Alaskan rock formation:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5AhVFAMOCB2KiKbHkqsWdoUdWx71YGetc27u_S-NGggvc85nMPPhtsE3wJsoKttdStt7eV32pupntsW7MXnHrBn_ZUnsB9E3ZQyZhL9RwqGnrF2QQrwHWThFZzV26itCS0HXZhRdCZww/s1600/claw+rock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5AhVFAMOCB2KiKbHkqsWdoUdWx71YGetc27u_S-NGggvc85nMPPhtsE3wJsoKttdStt7eV32pupntsW7MXnHrBn_ZUnsB9E3ZQyZhL9RwqGnrF2QQrwHWThFZzV26itCS0HXZhRdCZww/s1600/claw+rock.jpg" height="364" width="550" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Choris Peninsula, Kotzebue Sound "Crab Claw"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">66 16.020 N, 161 54.520 W</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's from the <a href="http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/shorezone/" target="_blank">Alaska ShoreZone Coastal Mapping and Imagery</a> program, which has tasked itself with documenting <a href="http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/stories/2014/12/alaska_shorezone.html" target="_blank">geographic and biological resources</a> along the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_coastline" target="_blank">6,640 miles</a> of Alaskan coastline! (That's more miles than the rest of the coastal states combined!) From the ShoreZone description of this shot: "One of the few rock outcrops in Kotzebue Sound, near the south end of the Choris Peninsula. The bedrock is resistant to erosion and stands as near vertical rock cliffs." Now that's a <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2010/07/size-matters.html" target="_blank">large claw</a> if ever I saw one!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(If you watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMcjvOVpS1U#t=2334" target="_blank">this video</a>, you can see the helicopter footage of the Crab Claw at 42:40!)</span><br />
<br />Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-28730739764778105832015-01-06T11:30:00.002-08:002015-01-06T11:30:56.350-08:00New year, new crab!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, kind of. Recently a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/30/coconut-crab-hawaii_n_6392972.html?cps=gravity_2685_6611243743049024060">woman in Honolulu</a> noticed this guy walking down the street:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiECrwy5_0pgcuLvSGMJe2ZVsUdXdIayIYzuvjcDSKRN-wGIJzOhVvyCF6xeo3zk3Yhvz7fg-wAdlzDbAyRWKCZFNRHXZzrYfga8uikLtBT6GNWuU4IQfMBs_N_1-b5wVKT2rM4XtoX9yI/s1600/coconut+crab+in+Hawaii.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiECrwy5_0pgcuLvSGMJe2ZVsUdXdIayIYzuvjcDSKRN-wGIJzOhVvyCF6xeo3zk3Yhvz7fg-wAdlzDbAyRWKCZFNRHXZzrYfga8uikLtBT6GNWuU4IQfMBs_N_1-b5wVKT2rM4XtoX9yI/s1600/coconut+crab+in+Hawaii.jpg" height="306.6" width="550" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">oh hey there!</span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Normally seeing a <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/05/travel-with-crabs-oahu.html" target="_blank">crab in Hawaii</a> wouldn't be weird. But this guy is a coconut crab (remember learning about them <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/07/its-crabday.html" target="_blank">here</a>) and they are invasive in Hawaii. It might have just showed up for vacation, but what's more likely is that someone had bought the crab in hopes of making a tasty dinner - can you blame it for trying to run away!?!?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just as a note, in the video (on the Huffington Post link) they keep saying how dangerous the crabs are because of their strong claws. Coconut crabs can break through coconuts and were rumored to crack skulls of sleepy castaways, but I'm not sure how dangerous they truly are. So here's the lesson: rumors will follow you, coconut crab. You may have escaped being dinner (it will now live at the Honolulu Zoo), but you can't escape the sins of your father! (Regardless, getting pinched by a small mud crab can hurt so I'd avoid these claws!)</span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-21959105417235486522014-10-20T15:19:00.001-07:002014-10-20T15:21:29.494-07:00National Seafood Month<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Many of you know <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/10/october-opies.html" target="_blank">I LOVE October</a>. I continually sing, "It's the most wonderful tiiiiime of the yeeeeear!" and I'm not talkin' about Christmas, y'all! Among all the reasons I love October (fall colors, <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/search/label/Halloween" target="_blank">Halloween</a>, crab season openers), I just learned it's also National Seafood Month! Yes, not only should you be celebrating everything pumpkin, but also everything locally harvested from Alaskan waters! And to learn more about local seafood, you can read this <a href="http://local.ads.nwsource.com/ads/FlippingBook/2014/Q3/seafood_101/HTML/UA-48083694-18/#1" target="_blank">Seafood 101 pamphlet</a>. The link will bring you to the layout and you can zoom in to read the different articles. Who knows, it may even inspire your next Halloween costume:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEs4175KNfouMQdDKMEoxK8p0DyiPRq70SBVpxmSRxgw5RHB1NMpAvhts_xCosIouyC1qB4egKNCjUe-CXoQOFCyIyxpdHL5zHiqaaboCIvo4Suajy58xm4svwDIO8whXbAjzk_5R9mL8/s1600/coolest-boat-from-the-deadliest-catch-costume-21297083.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEs4175KNfouMQdDKMEoxK8p0DyiPRq70SBVpxmSRxgw5RHB1NMpAvhts_xCosIouyC1qB4egKNCjUe-CXoQOFCyIyxpdHL5zHiqaaboCIvo4Suajy58xm4svwDIO8whXbAjzk_5R9mL8/s1600/coolest-boat-from-the-deadliest-catch-costume-21297083.jpg" height="400" width="395" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>"Bering Sea or bust!"</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Happy National Seafood Month!</b></span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-41824953955979745762014-10-10T15:03:00.004-07:002014-10-10T15:03:54.264-07:00I'm getting published!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hey there! I've been working on this for <strike>a little bit</strike> the last 6 years (grad school + coming to terms with publishing my Master's thesis while starting a 'real' job...) but it's finally almost here:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Relationship of molting, gonadosomatic index, and methyl farnesoate</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">in male snow crab (<i>Chionoecetes opilio</i>) from the eastern Bering Sea</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's been accepted for publication in the Journal of Crustacean Biology and you can read the abstract from the advanced article <a href="http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/1937240x-00002271;jsessionid=1mkqu49jxh8ti.x-brill-live-02" target="_blank">here</a>. To say I'm pretty pumped would be an understatement! I've had cod and pollock and humpback whales swimming through my brain so much lately that it's nice to get crabby once more! Not like this:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Ka9xwmCNouE2VMufro8C1DdVhpxWppFiAQve8iuegHnrxSElsFw-MMsnZd4qupVfJj45OwjIgsxWvnjsqCYd5heQLs5Ce3PjOLN6nkOR42xoNUy-xI-qCWBSAGq2TyDjNQmcI34LJyc/s1600/Crabby-Boss1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Ka9xwmCNouE2VMufro8C1DdVhpxWppFiAQve8iuegHnrxSElsFw-MMsnZd4qupVfJj45OwjIgsxWvnjsqCYd5heQLs5Ce3PjOLN6nkOR42xoNUy-xI-qCWBSAGq2TyDjNQmcI34LJyc/s1600/Crabby-Boss1.gif" height="1410" width="500" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But more like this:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiga94FuhKJ6uynINB3qdJOVWxJmhUPGviPxnxO8gDpKmaNGTMPw19eQT_72FBwozBa54emEoL-NJJ8bobUkFyYNLSthXuNoZp8pDSSGDrK-n0zVkuxmRwA3Hn8T9RRLGhg-Vu449pQuYo/s1600/you+did+it.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiga94FuhKJ6uynINB3qdJOVWxJmhUPGviPxnxO8gDpKmaNGTMPw19eQT_72FBwozBa54emEoL-NJJ8bobUkFyYNLSthXuNoZp8pDSSGDrK-n0zVkuxmRwA3Hn8T9RRLGhg-Vu449pQuYo/s1600/you+did+it.jpg" height="400" width="316" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">from <a href="http://www.redcapcards.com/" target="_blank">here</a> via <a href="http://jonklassen.blogspot.com/2009/07/greetings.html" target="_blank">here</a></span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thanks, crabs, I couldn't have done it without you!</span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-57502396135948737932014-07-18T09:31:00.000-07:002014-07-18T09:31:03.644-07:00a little extra crab with this king<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">My friend was out on a crab survey this summer and spotted this guy:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz0gU91iy0SjeAHeREWpVLcJVMnEKDslxNIz9M43rBBY3Fy-5hXGjOKRW4QGsoJjMnlAg5ZsZi4dmakMWsWitsR5VdTKu5eDl476FDr7uKJ4GeXUMzX60h_2pNQNTj5aZgDFk70kHM-Qs/s1600/king+crab+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz0gU91iy0SjeAHeREWpVLcJVMnEKDslxNIz9M43rBBY3Fy-5hXGjOKRW4QGsoJjMnlAg5ZsZi4dmakMWsWitsR5VdTKu5eDl476FDr7uKJ4GeXUMzX60h_2pNQNTj5aZgDFk70kHM-Qs/s1600/king+crab+2.jpg" height="372.5" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Paralithodes camtschaticus</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Nothing out of the ordinary, right? EXCEPT FOR THESE:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigSb42VUTa4F1qCw45Y3nKMS6qb22Aw0o2ZDBUPRMREjhSgC4Rjl9a38EcF0Wsi7HU8_0_9jr5VLQIRXHMGv3Wi1x92r8c_VPNhy8cvbtX60pHktYuj0tA10J2te92LWtJSz9_de7ISIM/s1600/king+crab+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigSb42VUTa4F1qCw45Y3nKMS6qb22Aw0o2ZDBUPRMREjhSgC4Rjl9a38EcF0Wsi7HU8_0_9jr5VLQIRXHMGv3Wi1x92r8c_VPNhy8cvbtX60pHktYuj0tA10J2te92LWtJSz9_de7ISIM/s1600/king+crab+1.jpg" height="372.5" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>WHAT?!?!?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We've seen extra appendages before (<a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/11/high-4.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/12/merry-christmas-2013.html" target="_blank">here</a>). They most often are a result of some trauma to that leg that the crab's physiology tries to heal through regeneration (remember, crabs can rebuild entire legs!) that goes awry. When my friend posted these photos, someone asked if they were mobile or able to move independently. While I wasn't there, allow me to speculate: these bonus crab bits are just that. Bonus. The crab can't control their movement (you can see that they don't have actual joints, just the impression) and if the leg gets dropped for whatever reason and is regenerated, it likely won't have those mutations the second time around. BUT it would be cool if they could move, because imagine how much more scary that would make this guy:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHJOMxB3tUCLPNFd2hO53LbgPSTIqEcmIb1axShXT-1cMsZQGaAwqBRrtEQEPJNsEugV-7zwKlIcj1QICxbSnikDnK_FMUM6zmfEgrzo7ySWkcfKnHkW9tm8CjLUy2JQ6_By3afWz16g/s1600/3+claws+%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHJOMxB3tUCLPNFd2hO53LbgPSTIqEcmIb1axShXT-1cMsZQGaAwqBRrtEQEPJNsEugV-7zwKlIcj1QICxbSnikDnK_FMUM6zmfEgrzo7ySWkcfKnHkW9tm8CjLUy2JQ6_By3afWz16g/s1600/3+claws+%25283%2529.jpg" height="343.75" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"<a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/06/media-crabs.html" target="_blank">I pinch</a>, twice!" - mutant crab</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Katie, please feel free to let me know if I'm wrong! (Fingers crossed!)
</span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-88662445348585227722014-06-18T15:07:00.000-07:002014-06-18T15:07:15.406-07:00You're stressing us out, man!<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Remember when we learned that crustaceans actually feel pain <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/01/ouch.html" target="_blank">here</a>? In short, scientists offered crabs two shelters: one normal and one that delivered a shock. After being exposed to the electric shelter, the crabs had a learned response to avoid that sensation (presumably pain) and only choose the normal shelter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs0UliEnIebSbYhQciKsynp-nUXr0dUHDijVb0fi_sEUxwi3PW4QmaZhg2P9gY8ARIvyteahhsFz7cgK5RYi-lmYOYQ6l_Y0JTGHQgnyohX46jud0dKJNMp6BnXuNAp5UB9oVnx8WNBNc/s1600/crab+experiment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs0UliEnIebSbYhQciKsynp-nUXr0dUHDijVb0fi_sEUxwi3PW4QmaZhg2P9gY8ARIvyteahhsFz7cgK5RYi-lmYOYQ6l_Y0JTGHQgnyohX46jud0dKJNMp6BnXuNAp5UB9oVnx8WNBNc/s1600/crab+experiment.jpg" height="360" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>it's electric!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Well, stemming from that research, scientists are now learning that <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27812367" target="_blank">crustaceans may feel anxiety</a> too! I mean, it's not too shocking (I know...) that electrocuting an animal would stress it out, in our human understanding of the phrase, but scientists are observing behaviors that can be attributed to a stressed response. To test for anxiety in crustaceans, scientists exposed some crayfish to an electric field then put them in the test environment. The environment itself had no secret shocks, but rather had different light treatments: light places and dark places. All animals that weren't shocked before placement wandered around in both the light and dark environments, as if they hadn't a care in the world!</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> All animals who were electrocuted prior to placement chose to stay in
the dark places - in the wild this would be like them finding cover and
hiding. They had experienced something that stressed them, so they were staying away from a threatening, exposed place! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-PxF9wtpiACosXkeb_THWI4kDEM6CAYqx-FAVw2d0I6MYnoW2BTwXmGiWlY__3791Uj3ixeOy-X0LsVYEQOfw7dxUrpWfvb-Sb3UUeAaTpN7dK6mixNGoT25h5CI-ZAtQovS6Bem1AU/s1600/crayfish+experiment.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-PxF9wtpiACosXkeb_THWI4kDEM6CAYqx-FAVw2d0I6MYnoW2BTwXmGiWlY__3791Uj3ixeOy-X0LsVYEQOfw7dxUrpWfvb-Sb3UUeAaTpN7dK6mixNGoT25h5CI-ZAtQovS6Bem1AU/s1600/crayfish+experiment.JPG" height="470" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"man, you cray!" - 'stressed' crayfish</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This, along with some <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6189/1293" target="_blank">physiological work</a> the researchers did as well, means that instead of calling them "stressed", I can take away the air quotes that indicate I'm just anthropomorphizing their behavior and call them stressed!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz7eRhTNPycUHG6LGQwxUlLKkvB6yJehPS1UVrhDA8p_jUL1LTcpdJnU3jsBs9HVGxALd9HUDy1JTQ-3jBxzWb_28eanKoJg0Lz9XEh55N0tVLm5fpSR0scEeNvXiCgdgCZIHzGO4jmSI/s1600/stressed.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz7eRhTNPycUHG6LGQwxUlLKkvB6yJehPS1UVrhDA8p_jUL1LTcpdJnU3jsBs9HVGxALd9HUDy1JTQ-3jBxzWb_28eanKoJg0Lz9XEh55N0tVLm5fpSR0scEeNvXiCgdgCZIHzGO4jmSI/s1600/stressed.jpeg" height="402.5" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Not anymore, Dr. Evil. Not anymore.</i></span></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-65355513698829321572014-04-03T14:31:00.003-07:002014-04-03T14:31:53.651-07:00Come with Crabster if you want to live!<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A lot of times when I see advances in robotic technology I usually go into a panic about the impending robot apocalypse that's sure to follow. HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING!?!?!?!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp76Hrv3WNv6DMRMafLCvy0xTssDdmprB3D-jbTgOCafxeHargyxo92NzsZEV4KtkqrY895ZbUu3Bi1Cm6K4vMYTGxQ8G31ISkFsnZERH_6EF5U2OB0IXSAPCa-yTlWGqvgbmgmxjyVBQ/s1600/Terminator.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp76Hrv3WNv6DMRMafLCvy0xTssDdmprB3D-jbTgOCafxeHargyxo92NzsZEV4KtkqrY895ZbUu3Bi1Cm6K4vMYTGxQ8G31ISkFsnZERH_6EF5U2OB0IXSAPCa-yTlWGqvgbmgmxjyVBQ/s1600/Terminator.jpg" height="312.5" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"I want to dance on your bones!" - every robot, I assume</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">BUT, when I saw the Crabster CR200, my heart instantly melted!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIHVtKtGYlR3JGpUqdxYfrd33YyI1ubDaUxUGCVrewobkVA8LhibGGFsr02LMWUniIwN6YAaVqHFeg5gt4DOicFR6-rzlH8K2Q033R7p2rDoTATM1KtbciaUslfWSiRefFrvWn7hcGH1A/s1600/Crabster.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIHVtKtGYlR3JGpUqdxYfrd33YyI1ubDaUxUGCVrewobkVA8LhibGGFsr02LMWUniIwN6YAaVqHFeg5gt4DOicFR6-rzlH8K2Q033R7p2rDoTATM1KtbciaUslfWSiRefFrvWn7hcGH1A/s1600/Crabster.JPG" height="332.5" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Crabster is a creation from the Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology designed to, you guessed it, walk on the ocean floor! This little fellow can go where propeller-driven ROVs can't and doesn't kick up as much debris, so the video footage captured by its <a href="http://www.ubergizmo.com/2014/03/crabster-robot-could-change-the-way-we-explore-underwater-sites/" target="_blank">ELEVEN cameras</a> can be clearer with our little crab-like friend. <a href="http://www.iflscience.com/technology/robot-crab-give-you-nightmares" target="_blank">This link</a> had two videos of the Crabster in action, so check it out!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcCj4zJBu_iTk4KgmfwQpqk1ZW0SDZJ1nuPJjtb0Q3bco84pRd5jiF7EzS8KThOtSBUrQSuA_6WTcCxvmMK6UDSx6k5m7FhmrlY_aXpUv6c10f2EISzLZAN-oPCqsGuOYXh-Uhr25nrhE/s1600/crabster+infographic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcCj4zJBu_iTk4KgmfwQpqk1ZW0SDZJ1nuPJjtb0Q3bco84pRd5jiF7EzS8KThOtSBUrQSuA_6WTcCxvmMK6UDSx6k5m7FhmrlY_aXpUv6c10f2EISzLZAN-oPCqsGuOYXh-Uhr25nrhE/s1600/crabster+infographic.jpg" height="352.5" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It's like the large, potentially harmful, but still adorable version of <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/12/shopping-for-crab-lover.html" target="_blank">these guys</a> I bought my California nieces, so if Aunt Molly approves, so
should you! </span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-39121740698908402462014-03-24T23:38:00.001-07:002014-03-25T00:01:52.902-07:00What am I doing here?<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I mentioned last year that I was going to keep track of the <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/06/found-you.html" target="_blank">keyword searches</a> that bring people to <i>Snow Crab Love</i>, because some of them were frankly strange. Here are the top 5 non-crab-related searches that brought people here and, I'm guessing, left them asking, "What am I doing here!?!?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">1. <b>Tina Turner</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKwUVggbp3jS_iBleFs_Y-r56XtGjNukHz0mtHdy9iJeySVP5ZRZfg6ISKGyiWyL1CFdxFvhDbfr4_gHXCy0RAn1scVU3vIow5t8CZHNlGwpLJg0kg67E8UzWVH-UfZfJZkfqRvzk1b8M/s1600/Tina+Turner+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKwUVggbp3jS_iBleFs_Y-r56XtGjNukHz0mtHdy9iJeySVP5ZRZfg6ISKGyiWyL1CFdxFvhDbfr4_gHXCy0RAn1scVU3vIow5t8CZHNlGwpLJg0kg67E8UzWVH-UfZfJZkfqRvzk1b8M/s1600/Tina+Turner+3.jpg" height="328" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2010/11/yes-tina-turner-you-had-question.html" target="_blank">Well, obviously</a>!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">2. <b>Veggies and Dip in Bread</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This one also makes sense: the internet LOVES carbs and I made a <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-dip.html" target="_blank">carb-tastic appetizer</a> for a NOAA potluck that could easily be morphed into a crab-themed treat:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6hKDVix6S99i-uw5mOb1KhX37ucANU25_GoeIwvKMuKRofTKtAm-9dk4Sx0syEjb02S2qZijNbnHLIfjPW9NUMVr-YmeU6ey9JMKrQnQwWjen_s-l3KpImh7zmMm7M9NZgTARmflk8tU/s1600/veggie+crab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6hKDVix6S99i-uw5mOb1KhX37ucANU25_GoeIwvKMuKRofTKtAm-9dk4Sx0syEjb02S2qZijNbnHLIfjPW9NUMVr-YmeU6ey9JMKrQnQwWjen_s-l3KpImh7zmMm7M9NZgTARmflk8tU/s1600/veggie+crab.jpg" height="313" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">3. <b>Flamingos</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY19olG_-glYcQ5WaHy7YFfp2O_jyTLu-5zbMTOrWDovIbOvZDN2D39jhau1avLYhngyzsUWWyhWiEYd_Goa2kE-Vl6-yDfrT9yOGlkSnK0e5CDM2E_NkRpoAJE_WZiO8efwb2rsI5FCQ/s1600/Artemia+salina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY19olG_-glYcQ5WaHy7YFfp2O_jyTLu-5zbMTOrWDovIbOvZDN2D39jhau1avLYhngyzsUWWyhWiEYd_Goa2kE-Vl6-yDfrT9yOGlkSnK0e5CDM2E_NkRpoAJE_WZiO8efwb2rsI5FCQ/s1600/Artemia+salina.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>flamingos get their pink hue from eating <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/06/flamingos-for-fathers-day.html" target="_blank">brine shrimp</a>!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">4. <b>Kivalina, Alaska</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjPLOWGY06chjfmNefw1MxVIRnemFDgE-GX-jvjzPFZecN97nrzKfMuyNO_u947pcuJBXu9GpH663W8L7KmbHNOm5N8DfCWiFlBr5Riazw3hxf0Wak3w5lBUl4IaQvdyCR_r9w4O6qlg8/s1600/TMNT+rust+spores.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjPLOWGY06chjfmNefw1MxVIRnemFDgE-GX-jvjzPFZecN97nrzKfMuyNO_u947pcuJBXu9GpH663W8L7KmbHNOm5N8DfCWiFlBr5Riazw3hxf0Wak3w5lBUl4IaQvdyCR_r9w4O6qlg8/s1600/TMNT+rust+spores.jpg" height="342" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Remember when there was the <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/08/secret-of-ooze.html" target="_blank">secret of the (orange) ooze</a>? It ended up not being of the crustacean persuasion, but the mystery was fun while it lasted (and who doesn't love a TMNT reference?)!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIdCKXNEyjfjrxLMuUSu-Im7o4rhJbAjsU74yqkRWuc7yatavudBDkSYaNdlrdFIIs3bqngAUEw-p9rHgTIIdcRtKig2oZn3SUrpDJhN5UWJVLLHUjFlGKMiIcUuEP9rxwBpdLVEsPLU4/s1600/orange+tide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIdCKXNEyjfjrxLMuUSu-Im7o4rhJbAjsU74yqkRWuc7yatavudBDkSYaNdlrdFIIs3bqngAUEw-p9rHgTIIdcRtKig2oZn3SUrpDJhN5UWJVLLHUjFlGKMiIcUuEP9rxwBpdLVEsPLU4/s1600/orange+tide.jpg" height="257" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>the "<a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/08/orange-goo-update.html" target="_blank">orange tide</a>" ended up being spores</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">5. <b>Dead Iguana Pictures</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I seriously have no idea (a) why anyone would search that and (b) why that search word would bring people to my blog MULTIPLE times!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Other fun searches were "<a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/09/crab-chat.html" target="_blank">Captain Picard</a>", "<a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/10/halloween-is-coming.html" target="_blank">Baby Beagle Costumes</a>", "<a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/04/aging-crabs.html" target="_blank">If I only had a brain</a>", and "Kelsey Grammar" (what?).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGwXTY-rF9LD2Xxua5Y1SVKACu5eCX4NyYFCmoyb1fyxUlkvI7ANt8rtaosnCzOZiX1VgGAW86q8IbIaztjw-FkHg0-eForiylrDCPK7nr94dBvmSjZUS4f6xv4bnhb4yaelngIPGhxcE/s1600/crab+dog+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGwXTY-rF9LD2Xxua5Y1SVKACu5eCX4NyYFCmoyb1fyxUlkvI7ANt8rtaosnCzOZiX1VgGAW86q8IbIaztjw-FkHg0-eForiylrDCPK7nr94dBvmSjZUS4f6xv4bnhb4yaelngIPGhxcE/s1600/crab+dog+2.jpg" height="400" width="318" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>this dog! it gets me every time!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What brought you here?</span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-30140864726927048992014-02-28T10:59:00.002-08:002014-02-28T10:59:57.840-08:00Are you strong enough to be my shell?<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Is anyone else singing Sheryl Crow right now? Just me?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It's Science Fair time up here in Juneau!!! That means data has been collected, numbers have been crunched, and posters are being put together for the big presentation this weekend! This will be my third year judging and I'm so excited to see all the projects the high school students have come up with this year!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Last year I was also a mentor (mentioned <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/01/double-ouch.html" target="_blank">here</a>) but sadly my student didn't end up presenting her results. It was sad in two ways: (1) she was pretty pumped about the project, but had double-booked the weekend because she was also super involved in a lot of school activities (go get 'em!), so it was too bad she didn't get to present her work. (2) This experiment involved live animals, so had I known she wouldn't complete the program, I wouldn't have mentored this type of project. I take working with animals very seriously and take it to heart if/when any of the animals in my care die.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6t4r3yWtd9sPMXZ6ExfdqnOsRnvG1qggRPP3krlTKYIC0f5h801gdDAionjYce13gwlSTzJfhLY-r8bEqNgpIFTweytoh4Pokrxrx2TRKFyEMtfRJG7RuoKiBIyxA0_crD9fB1uE-vwg/s1600/Crab+Quilt+How-To+%25285%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6t4r3yWtd9sPMXZ6ExfdqnOsRnvG1qggRPP3krlTKYIC0f5h801gdDAionjYce13gwlSTzJfhLY-r8bEqNgpIFTweytoh4Pokrxrx2TRKFyEMtfRJG7RuoKiBIyxA0_crD9fB1uE-vwg/s1600/Crab+Quilt+How-To+%25285%2529.JPG" height="500" width="383.75" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>this seems silly, but remember my <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2010/10/crab-quilt.html" target="_blank">snow crab quilt</a></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>with a crab to honor each of my study animals?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That being said, I still want to present the fun little project I had the opportunity to participate in since it hasn't been shared yet! Hermit crabs depend on gastropod shells to protect their soft, delicate abdomens. Because of this need for protection, shell strength is an important variable for them when choosing which shell to inhabit. Given the choice in normal situations, it's been observed that hermit crabs will choose intact shells over damaged ones, since the damaged ones would be easier to break into by their predators. We wondered how their shell choice might differ in differing situations: will they make the same choice under stress? How about if they think there are a bunch of potential shells around - will they be as choosy initially? Will they still worry about shell strength???</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To test this question, we took hairy hermit crabs, <i>Pagarus hirsutiusculus</i>, that were being housed at the University of Alaska Southeast wet lab and offered them two shells: one intact, one with a tiny hole. When giving the crabs an opportunity to make this choice, we took advantage of their use of chemical cues and exposed them to different "smelling" water. We exposed some of the hermit crabs to water that smelled like a known predator, the Dungeness crab, to act as the stress treatment. We exposed others to water that smelled like dead snails to mimic a gastropod predation event, or a time when several snails are being eaten and therefore leaving their shells up for grabs. We finally had a control treatment where the hermit crabs made their choice in the same water that had been pumping through their holding tanks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR6OswA4mj2h8hzSiO3-ICCAQRO6COxX0qh3B3SwwxdoKAcjkzDYzkJkgwuG1_5jWy0zEuDCWbAyx2BZpd2jmBw_HYU-0m1YwDEkp3FpPmdHJkVBASPGz4IthB8vQFbnq5U4xzZKkfaA8/s1600/hermit+crab+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR6OswA4mj2h8hzSiO3-ICCAQRO6COxX0qh3B3SwwxdoKAcjkzDYzkJkgwuG1_5jWy0zEuDCWbAyx2BZpd2jmBw_HYU-0m1YwDEkp3FpPmdHJkVBASPGz4IthB8vQFbnq5U4xzZKkfaA8/s1600/hermit+crab+(2).JPG" height="375" style="cursor: move;" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>hello!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In order to encourage shell selection, we had to gently remove the hermits from their original shells (crazy easy to do without any harm to the crabs!). We saved their original shell so that they could move back into it when the trial was finished. We also measured their original shell's weight so that we could offer them test shells of similar size/weight (we didn't want to give a big crab a small shell!).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGo-wjoev58oCu237hL2uOvFUfxK1qM68zOkd8XinkXmL1IfnoSTGaXxPyrNdDxnEGAYyqUp7HF7wDfJxz_lK6AELGL66NFJm33ivfP2pt5UuPFJoXfXdq_4Of0ogU51o7mhnhxJgZdTU/s1600/hermit+crab+(18).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGo-wjoev58oCu237hL2uOvFUfxK1qM68zOkd8XinkXmL1IfnoSTGaXxPyrNdDxnEGAYyqUp7HF7wDfJxz_lK6AELGL66NFJm33ivfP2pt5UuPFJoXfXdq_4Of0ogU51o7mhnhxJgZdTU/s1600/hermit+crab+(18).JPG" height="500" width="372.5" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>science! collecting naked crab weights!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We measured the time it took for them to approach a shell, the time it took for them to enter a shell, and their shell selection. We took note if they changed which shell they chose too, just in case any of them had buyer's remorse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijSdr_17382JX1_ZXMLv7HBlyMTI14GuXIX2Hm4nUYGAepursw8tBGfR024Gac8DS_-h9y3K9xZBVOHyo3MJtqShl95N8dPvURuLQbUm1E2fzIxbGbWz1u1B9eHpRRCY9lGK8MjuKuXY/s1600/hermit+crab+(5).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijSdr_17382JX1_ZXMLv7HBlyMTI14GuXIX2Hm4nUYGAepursw8tBGfR024Gac8DS_-h9y3K9xZBVOHyo3MJtqShl95N8dPvURuLQbUm1E2fzIxbGbWz1u1B9eHpRRCY9lGK8MjuKuXY/s1600/hermit+crab+(5).JPG" height="372.5" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>choices choices: the two shells offered are from the same species of snail,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>but one is damaged goods and one seems shiny and new </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>(the small white thing in the leftmost part of the tank is a bit of gravel) </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What did we find? For all treatments, the hermit crabs chose the intact shells over the damaged shells. This wasn't too shocking, but it was still interesting to see that, even under stress (Dungeness-scent) or at leisure (dead snail-scent), they still made the same basic decision.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJB5rQHfvDYGQW2-KzHiokViQ5_lvpz6MeM8oa7_kWSOE5qPZ1AfHJrl_51-GFAGjWp0aQgHnq-2BvXy1Y3rlGT08kWZcSz0sCE5olbxhLTj43IV3-FsVJJf9QATKE6fjpyMG6B99Cvfg/s1600/Shell+Choice+Frequency.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJB5rQHfvDYGQW2-KzHiokViQ5_lvpz6MeM8oa7_kWSOE5qPZ1AfHJrl_51-GFAGjWp0aQgHnq-2BvXy1Y3rlGT08kWZcSz0sCE5olbxhLTj43IV3-FsVJJf9QATKE6fjpyMG6B99Cvfg/s1600/Shell+Choice+Frequency.jpg" height="385" width="500" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>more hermit crabs chose intact shells than damaged shells</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>and rarely changed their minds, although one crab switched from</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>an intact shell to damaged one in the predator treatment... </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The time it took for the crabs to approach a shell and enter it were very similar. It seemed like some of the crabs would just wander around the tank for the most part and sense the shells by touch rather than sight. Once they touched a shell, they would hurry their little tushes into it! The time it took for them to find the shells was roughly the same across all treatments (ie "there was no significant difference in average time for first approach or shell entry across treatments (ANOVA, p > 0.05)").</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI1rCTwkTSbUFwg8aPXbeBfDheUwDe4VViGEFniw73zcgrmqYVAy4V3wf7WrMsbz7a96p5Ge3Xri90p90NCF7J6niCc1PHRjvXd2jvByljpUij9HqERk0Hqjuzv822i4ulsRcB1OgDL3A/s1600/hermit+crab+(12).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI1rCTwkTSbUFwg8aPXbeBfDheUwDe4VViGEFniw73zcgrmqYVAy4V3wf7WrMsbz7a96p5Ge3Xri90p90NCF7J6niCc1PHRjvXd2jvByljpUij9HqERk0Hqjuzv822i4ulsRcB1OgDL3A/s1600/hermit+crab+(12).JPG" height="500" width="375" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>get in there!!! (see his little <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/01/double-ouch.html" target="_blank">rhizocephalan</a>?)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The main thing: <b>IT WAS FUN</b>! Yes, it was several hours in the lab and, yes, I'm still sad that it wasn't presented at the fair, but it was fun being a mentor and doing this crabby side-project!</span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-88680767898762640392014-02-14T11:24:00.004-08:002014-02-14T11:24:53.394-08:00It's Valentine's Day.<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When trying to come up with a card this year I was inspired by these hilarious, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/11/valentines-cards-awkward_n_4757404.html" target="_blank">not-so-romantic cards</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA5HtpqvvGhcHDDKkngt9JGilP4fgCBKB8u5A_gTIRRlOHtsp3mPlYtD4v2fBg02QPJnnguC1TxliGvF4bIyZuYwsugmdwmf4mjFPeOsAQhlQ3q4ce_htXernpstcCwhTIn355LDWJd-8/s1600/Valentine+-+not+bad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA5HtpqvvGhcHDDKkngt9JGilP4fgCBKB8u5A_gTIRRlOHtsp3mPlYtD4v2fBg02QPJnnguC1TxliGvF4bIyZuYwsugmdwmf4mjFPeOsAQhlQ3q4ce_htXernpstcCwhTIn355LDWJd-8/s1600/Valentine+-+not+bad.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>(from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/sadshop?ref=l2-shopheader-name" target="_blank">Sad Shop</a>)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviA0ikbgeP4PASkwNQ6wnD_ThWqMOmarnD4G48i-eCmg6faqa24yXLItB6NI42leC79CAZKF0szp9JQnrf08kADGgIQacdk-hxzASqL0me3EgkYwxQG2AD7VHVDnuASiU7Fsjxkp4_18/s1600/Valentine+-+Forget+it.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviA0ikbgeP4PASkwNQ6wnD_ThWqMOmarnD4G48i-eCmg6faqa24yXLItB6NI42leC79CAZKF0szp9JQnrf08kADGgIQacdk-hxzASqL0me3EgkYwxQG2AD7VHVDnuASiU7Fsjxkp4_18/s1600/Valentine+-+Forget+it.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>(from <a href="http://www.emilymcdowell.com/" target="_blank">Emily McDowell</a>)</i></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4QGrAluSliMIS_cXCK8gs3Sye3Zksa3TCxn9fb2RAMHcjSvNIWISYrk356T5vs5hEp39_iLKbEtLfQOatfVQCeTBEkeEeGN8U02xjKdcFLQy0Fl_rpvt8uu4UyiQ0x6LT_mczhwg_d9E/s1600/Valentine+-+You%27re+OK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4QGrAluSliMIS_cXCK8gs3Sye3Zksa3TCxn9fb2RAMHcjSvNIWISYrk356T5vs5hEp39_iLKbEtLfQOatfVQCeTBEkeEeGN8U02xjKdcFLQy0Fl_rpvt8uu4UyiQ0x6LT_mczhwg_d9E/s1600/Valentine+-+You're+OK.jpg" height="333" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <i>(from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/LostMarblesCo?ref=l2-shopheader-name" target="_blank">Lost Marbles</a>)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I was also inspired by my renewed interest in <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/03/crab-parasites.html" target="_blank">rhizocephalans</a> after seeing UAF student Leah Sloan's <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2014/02/anchorage-crab-extravaganza.html" target="_blank">zombie-themed poster</a> at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium. So I came up with this beauty that you can share with your loved ones or your not-so-much-in-love-but-you-don't-hate-them-either ones!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpjQT8Unax-ghHrjVF6TjsG1yKlKZyVkQeXFyE1Z-IYFXVEej4suVquCw-S_XX91_qnXWPNOo8bmTeyxoBxSHV8vufadl5ERk04sKAaOsTTwMlbQ2ZWfki_rqOk8AbPGlm-Aud2GXn-rc/s1600/Valentine+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpjQT8Unax-ghHrjVF6TjsG1yKlKZyVkQeXFyE1Z-IYFXVEej4suVquCw-S_XX91_qnXWPNOo8bmTeyxoBxSHV8vufadl5ERk04sKAaOsTTwMlbQ2ZWfki_rqOk8AbPGlm-Aud2GXn-rc/s1600/Valentine+2014.jpg" height="320" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To make this heart-warming card: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">1. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-BCZQ3BuJH4TFVqOUJRYXIzc1E/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Download the PDF</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">2. Print out the card and fold on the dotted line</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">3. Give to someone!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbUmBquGbGL2UoHE00wmDPQHa5GW7nDjuwE1ydxmcMM-lpZIjFA8zK40ez_Rgh6IAvLSSQsqIiA9Ai4kbpHJbpw2uOOFx7hzqb5Hui2I1GMKpb4hBWmqc4K6bugJV7AO9SaPZ-wvNSz50/s1600/I+don%27t+equal+a+rhizocephalan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbUmBquGbGL2UoHE00wmDPQHa5GW7nDjuwE1ydxmcMM-lpZIjFA8zK40ez_Rgh6IAvLSSQsqIiA9Ai4kbpHJbpw2uOOFx7hzqb5Hui2I1GMKpb4hBWmqc4K6bugJV7AO9SaPZ-wvNSz50/s1600/I+don't+equal+a+rhizocephalan.jpg" height="533.3" width="300" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>they will be thrilled.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Check out these other cards too:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/02/sicb-lessons-mantis-shrimp-are-awesome.html" target="_blank">Love Like a Mantis Shrimp</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/02/valentines-day-lobster-craft.html" target="_blank">Lobster Love</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/02/i-crab-heart-you.html" target="_blank">I *crab heart* you</a></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;">Happy Valentine's Day!</span></span></span></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-48734958796531437372014-02-09T20:35:00.001-08:002014-02-09T20:36:09.148-08:00Gettin' crabby in Oregon (part 3)<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Are you guys ready for the final crab friend I found in Oregon!?!? Let's do this one more time:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XKD7WgmwLSmqY6GSQulo2q2KjNPOuvZje0Qeak32fPbTBEjJaDxishYZkI3f5oRA129Ruw7XUrT2duIaNpMJz1zsIjpWXZHbzt6AMb1AI7lJxgoql_cZ64-eZkrekwmpfVzNgpf7NTk/s1600/Travel+With+Crabs+sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XKD7WgmwLSmqY6GSQulo2q2KjNPOuvZje0Qeak32fPbTBEjJaDxishYZkI3f5oRA129Ruw7XUrT2duIaNpMJz1zsIjpWXZHbzt6AMb1AI7lJxgoql_cZ64-eZkrekwmpfVzNgpf7NTk/s1600/Travel+With+Crabs+sign.jpg" height="313.75" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Let's recap quickly: I was down in Oregon for our friends' wedding. The friends we were staying with treated us to a lovely walk on the beach and we were happily surprised to see a live <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2014/01/gettin-crabby-in-oregon.html" target="_blank">smooth bay shrimp</a> and a live <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2014/01/gettin-crabby-in-oregon-part-2.html" target="_blank">purple shore crab</a>! That would have been enough, but the next thing we saw knocked my socks off:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwqzz7BbGojfbpSG-uOZlshGSpeTgZIfFp0ad-xoJ4fNJZPoREm0y5EIf5Cb28XoOaHVFGxjNWn8syvICKELtZ9NiMqyu0QNQ2PjqLu4nx-bwDRxbXd7SYCPQtbgrt7Oxp73X-gCiUEjc/s1600/mole+crab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwqzz7BbGojfbpSG-uOZlshGSpeTgZIfFp0ad-xoJ4fNJZPoREm0y5EIf5Cb28XoOaHVFGxjNWn8syvICKELtZ9NiMqyu0QNQ2PjqLu4nx-bwDRxbXd7SYCPQtbgrt7Oxp73X-gCiUEjc/s1600/mole+crab.jpg" height="375" width="500" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>it's a <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/10/happy-mole-day.html" target="_blank">MOLE CRAB</a>!!!</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Holy mole-y! (Ha!) I can't tell you how excited I was to see this guy! Unlike our two other friends, the mole crabs I found were, sadly, dead. But thrilling nonetheless. Mole crabs live in the surf zone and burrow into the sand backwards using their modified, trowel-like telson. This digging behavior is why they're called "mole crabs".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHG9pRiG2c4-UrscbqoOqH6upObneygHrkRA1gFwzy0M6EjaEdcnZGHDY4bUockFgHs-Fuduia2Iu6qWRxpJwgOto8sZhSBjuyxrE4nDYOMtGYJCM_5EExXVeavNbXG34kwwq72tPOU8o/s1600/mole+crab+face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHG9pRiG2c4-UrscbqoOqH6upObneygHrkRA1gFwzy0M6EjaEdcnZGHDY4bUockFgHs-Fuduia2Iu6qWRxpJwgOto8sZhSBjuyxrE4nDYOMtGYJCM_5EExXVeavNbXG34kwwq72tPOU8o/s1600/mole+crab+face.jpg" height="375" width="500" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"Also because we are<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/10/happy-mole-day.html" target="_blank">6.02 x 10<sup>23</sup></a> times cuter than any other crab" </span>- mole crab </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I just can't get over their unique body shape! It was such a treat to see these guys and a perfect way to end our trip in Oregon!</span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-22479193933959091412014-02-06T20:27:00.000-08:002014-02-06T20:27:09.890-08:00Anchorage Crab Extravaganza!<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><strike>Last week</strike> 2 weeks ago (time flies!) I attended the 2014 Alaska Marine Science Symposium, and boy was it crab-tastic! I went to present a couple posters on my work with the <a href="http://www.nprb.org/gulf-of-alaska-project" target="_blank">Gulf of Alaska Project</a> (my portion is studying baby fish body condition), but you better believe I stopped at all the crab posters I could find!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here's a run-down of some of the neat crabby things I learned:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Snow crabs are loving detritus up in the arctic! <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/09/ask-grad-student-lauren-divine.html" target="_blank">Lauren Divine</a> looked at <i>Chionoecetes opilio</i> stomach contents from crabs collected in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Along with detritus, crabs were eating polychaetes, bivalves, brittle stars (you can see a pile of them from <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2010/07/i-measure-crab-gonads.html" target="_blank">this post</a>), and other crabs including opies!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1hihZKBs9mVJwosPwuP9C1NsBks5TUg808QT24DrsfqlcvMo2Ya66jNURPAT9LpY3uubOllzupHy-zhfdmadgiHIOuvGrIFGvD_awqay9TnlG1ZnqPQMasHZ-pFzXNzfcRkd_fsC83YE/s1600/P1090224.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1hihZKBs9mVJwosPwuP9C1NsBks5TUg808QT24DrsfqlcvMo2Ya66jNURPAT9LpY3uubOllzupHy-zhfdmadgiHIOuvGrIFGvD_awqay9TnlG1ZnqPQMasHZ-pFzXNzfcRkd_fsC83YE/s1600/P1090224.JPG" height="375" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Lauren showing off her poster and special friend</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidu4RHknVlJREzLom47w7KTQh7rnGHckuAuY10EcK2cdcMeL5Lc0IId_Pi1QOyq1UiTb-JlsjttzSN3DtM7pahCuTJq-oH7_-0IruVSu7_8uSzxIYp9f9VlDHoq6iMIFR6LJggqXW_ul0/s1600/P1090220.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidu4RHknVlJREzLom47w7KTQh7rnGHckuAuY10EcK2cdcMeL5Lc0IId_Pi1QOyq1UiTb-JlsjttzSN3DtM7pahCuTJq-oH7_-0IruVSu7_8uSzxIYp9f9VlDHoq6iMIFR6LJggqXW_ul0/s1600/P1090220.JPG" height="375" width="500" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>that's a larger-than-life snow crab ready to show you...</i></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidftsPkKu106ABK7vZV9nKWKuRW9kBGDGNBQCVjn6PEgNklViQyzvT0Tw7o2zDOZIzBYGhhWTIOXaovwsKvK2d787Ml8y3fhdaMat8cQ7k71ojyf2u7zup_DQVDZRhH0t5TopcK6vnigs/s1600/P1090222.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidftsPkKu106ABK7vZV9nKWKuRW9kBGDGNBQCVjn6PEgNklViQyzvT0Tw7o2zDOZIzBYGhhWTIOXaovwsKvK2d787Ml8y3fhdaMat8cQ7k71ojyf2u7zup_DQVDZRhH0t5TopcK6vnigs/s1600/P1090222.JPG" height="375" width="500" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>...its stomach contents!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Alaska Department of Fish and Game is mapping Tanner crab (<a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2010/09/meet-bairdis.html" target="_blank"><i>Chionoecetes bairdi</i></a>) habitat to better understand their distribution off of Kodiak. The fun part of this: underwater pictures of crabs in action!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsgkd-oEXEvXzypGHwalN2BmmfricuzADdDhNgxTvDUvcUeEatRf-YmTALOgGyIl7cZ_kwc_L0QOhbFUVjAGcj6b_vhKSgswpa_8rvn2jRTDrQoCysIsG1J3R8qfzm0Sp2-1rPTFvWf4/s1600/P1090226.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsgkd-oEXEvXzypGHwalN2BmmfricuzADdDhNgxTvDUvcUeEatRf-YmTALOgGyIl7cZ_kwc_L0QOhbFUVjAGcj6b_vhKSgswpa_8rvn2jRTDrQoCysIsG1J3R8qfzm0Sp2-1rPTFvWf4/s1600/P1090226.JPG" height="375" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>(download the abstracts <a href="http://www.alaskamarinescience.org/" target="_blank">here</a>)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/03/whats-ocean-acidification.html" target="_blank">Ocean acidification</a> will affect larval Tanner crabs as the ocean's pH drops. Here's Chris Long presenting his work where they exposed brooding females to different levels of pH (the lower the pH, the more "acidified" the water is). The greatest effect was toward larval survival. He also gave a talk on how a similar experiment affected the embryos of Tanner crabs (there's a difference... I can explain further if you'd like) and they weren't doing too well either.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy_O7tLLDk7Evq_FvVgP1VjaeQFdjHcaVzopO4x7hXiScPj05eOx6SQR336J678wppCte6CuVGR8XOAkkaJwwzYgqw23pI-slfThkornt0-ZHtThouEo8caE1vUEkGTqO1fJmea1xe_WU/s1600/P1090236.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy_O7tLLDk7Evq_FvVgP1VjaeQFdjHcaVzopO4x7hXiScPj05eOx6SQR336J678wppCte6CuVGR8XOAkkaJwwzYgqw23pI-slfThkornt0-ZHtThouEo8caE1vUEkGTqO1fJmea1xe_WU/s1600/P1090236.JPG" height="375" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>over-achiever: giving a poster presentation AND a talk!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Remember how I said <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/04/aging-crabs.html" target="_blank">aging crabs</a> was near-impossible? Alexei Pinchuk, Ginny Eckert, and Rodger Harvey are out to prove me wrong!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJPj5kjl446iF4f9DQbXIPCYk31kQ9CeStg01k1ic3XBDslkXxDKZbiM6FwsoHmbmeJ93SMpT9vuDgLy6xp7ReWsRXON5wi0orJiLriOkxqYiV6ewIsKQtq-m20JnD6DSrNH7REKNVRUI/s1600/P1090229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJPj5kjl446iF4f9DQbXIPCYk31kQ9CeStg01k1ic3XBDslkXxDKZbiM6FwsoHmbmeJ93SMpT9vuDgLy6xp7ReWsRXON5wi0orJiLriOkxqYiV6ewIsKQtq-m20JnD6DSrNH7REKNVRUI/s1600/P1090229.JPG" height="375" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"Development of Biochemical Measures of Age in the Alaskan Red King Crab:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Towards Quantifying Thermal Effect on Aging" </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Last but not least, I learned about ZOMBIE CRABS!!! (No, not <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/01/dawn-of-crabs.html" target="_blank">these zombie crabs</a>.) Leah Sloan, a UAF grad student, is looking at the distribution of that nasty parasite, the <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/03/crab-parasites.html" target="_blank">rhizocephalan</a>, and how it may be affected by temperature. The infected king crabs she's studying are referred to as 'zombie crabs' because their bodies have basically been hijacked by the parasite to be a walking, eating, parasite-brooding machine! She's answering her temperature question by exposing larval rhizocephalans (aka parasitic barnacles) to different temperatures and tracking their survival. I'll interview her soon for an "Ask a Grad Student" post so we can all learn more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-5NjuLNTfJecJhyeJTqtSpL87gK1hwqikBjF0DlYVpRbrbeTnlP5pGhW-SUw7QdNu1AcHYSwsbZrhyKI0QjXSFXLIs5Bnz3V4P-OVUB0OPcNhs5gh9DMvahySeYQXGkwRClFJwVYWbsY/s1600/P1090230.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-5NjuLNTfJecJhyeJTqtSpL87gK1hwqikBjF0DlYVpRbrbeTnlP5pGhW-SUw7QdNu1AcHYSwsbZrhyKI0QjXSFXLIs5Bnz3V4P-OVUB0OPcNhs5gh9DMvahySeYQXGkwRClFJwVYWbsY/s1600/P1090230.JPG" height="375" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>she had me at "Zombie"!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I took so many other crab notes, so we'll see if I can share them all with you over the next... year!?!? By then I'll be ready for another round of Marine Science Symposium fun!</span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-36973850089752798192014-01-17T18:19:00.000-08:002014-01-17T18:19:38.526-08:00Gettin' crabby in Oregon (part 2)<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Oh yeah, we're still going to</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XKD7WgmwLSmqY6GSQulo2q2KjNPOuvZje0Qeak32fPbTBEjJaDxishYZkI3f5oRA129Ruw7XUrT2duIaNpMJz1zsIjpWXZHbzt6AMb1AI7lJxgoql_cZ64-eZkrekwmpfVzNgpf7NTk/s1600/Travel+With+Crabs+sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XKD7WgmwLSmqY6GSQulo2q2KjNPOuvZje0Qeak32fPbTBEjJaDxishYZkI3f5oRA129Ruw7XUrT2duIaNpMJz1zsIjpWXZHbzt6AMb1AI7lJxgoql_cZ64-eZkrekwmpfVzNgpf7NTk/s1600/Travel+With+Crabs+sign.jpg" height="251" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I last left off with my friends and me discovering a still-very-alive <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2014/01/gettin-crabby-in-oregon.html" target="_blank">smooth bay shrimp</a> and putting it back in the ocean. As we reached the jetty near Yaquina Bay and admired the sunset, we found another little crustacean first thought to be dead.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0pp3bxofMkujJy_wVzXIvfTIysSoQ4wn-jlXVN_R8HicJs0mWzRgKpyUXadcvBuIUlnKV5GDTt1p-9PhK3anQi6OrGY2FM-PTM0__fPja6gWke8Rf5CGnuKk2bol8sgYa85CpVdRTeXc/s1600/purple+shore+crab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0pp3bxofMkujJy_wVzXIvfTIysSoQ4wn-jlXVN_R8HicJs0mWzRgKpyUXadcvBuIUlnKV5GDTt1p-9PhK3anQi6OrGY2FM-PTM0__fPja6gWke8Rf5CGnuKk2bol8sgYa85CpVdRTeXc/s1600/purple+shore+crab.jpg" height="375" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"I'm so thirsty!" - purple shore crab</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">He was a little purple shore crab (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_shore_crab" target="_blank"><i>Hemigrapsus nudus</i></a>)! He was very nude, but we tried not to make him feel too self conscious about it. I'm not sure why purple shore crabs are also called 'naked shore crabs' since all crabs are naked save for maybe <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2011/10/dress-up-for-crabday.html" target="_blank">decorator crabs</a> (when they dress up and look fabulous!), but I think it hails from a comparison with the other common shore crabs nearby, the <a href="http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/crab/identification.html" target="_blank">hairy shore crab</a> (<i>Hemigrapsus <strike>fully-dressed-icus</strike> oregonensis</i>). You see, the purple shore crab has smooth legs whereas the hairy shore crab has lots of little <a href="http://www.wallawalla.edu/academics/departments/biology/rosario/inverts/Arthropoda/Crustacea/Malacostraca/Eumalacostraca/Eucarida/Decapoda/Brachyura/Family_Grapsidae/Hemigrapsus_nudus.html" target="_blank">hair-like setae</a> along its legs and claws.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU-EEFMDoxnoAY2bKSP7xNShyphenhyphen_zrTwBsMSJL-j3Snt8LyqWUSM1YFRgp_gL4GnZ0KGKX-t5oUzeBTPfBMCqHiQJI7iVoACV7IVMGvPevrUTNgjwYV6rbIq_v3rxoYZXXtAu1qzsYSzR04/s1600/purple+shore+crab+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU-EEFMDoxnoAY2bKSP7xNShyphenhyphen_zrTwBsMSJL-j3Snt8LyqWUSM1YFRgp_gL4GnZ0KGKX-t5oUzeBTPfBMCqHiQJI7iVoACV7IVMGvPevrUTNgjwYV6rbIq_v3rxoYZXXtAu1qzsYSzR04/s500/purple+shore+crab+2.jpg" height="332.5" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <i>"That's right! I'm as bald as Patrick Stewart!" - purple shore crab</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Like the smooth bay shrimp we found, this purple shore crab also gave us some signs of life so we quickly found a sheltered spot for him in the water by the rocks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We have one last stop in our Oregon adventure, so don't go too far!</span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-3397306622834559922014-01-11T16:51:00.000-08:002014-01-11T16:52:56.119-08:00Gettin' crabby in Oregon (part 1)<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It's time for another adventure! Let's</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XKD7WgmwLSmqY6GSQulo2q2KjNPOuvZje0Qeak32fPbTBEjJaDxishYZkI3f5oRA129Ruw7XUrT2duIaNpMJz1zsIjpWXZHbzt6AMb1AI7lJxgoql_cZ64-eZkrekwmpfVzNgpf7NTk/s1600/Travel+With+Crabs+sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XKD7WgmwLSmqY6GSQulo2q2KjNPOuvZje0Qeak32fPbTBEjJaDxishYZkI3f5oRA129Ruw7XUrT2duIaNpMJz1zsIjpWXZHbzt6AMb1AI7lJxgoql_cZ64-eZkrekwmpfVzNgpf7NTk/s1600/Travel+With+Crabs+sign.jpg" height="312.5" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I mentioned in the last post that I was headed to Oregon for a wedding. It was beautiful and touching and just plain fun! The next day we took advantage of our proximity to the coast and headed out for a walk near the Yaquina Bay State Recreation Site. I wasn't expecting to see much other than waves, sand, and sun, but my friend Alice spotted this little fellow:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhze-ndlWf9ujAy1_64WLZ6UGo-04dQkcoiya9YgpZlrR2CpstHOo1B7CqxTdbZ-vSyRcdaVHc7K1tt7wh4L62yfJkNM_oHMiFk-NI61PPgL8PQuWn7Nr7FRfCwbr9L5sWHASbXDw5ReOU/s1600/shrimp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhze-ndlWf9ujAy1_64WLZ6UGo-04dQkcoiya9YgpZlrR2CpstHOo1B7CqxTdbZ-vSyRcdaVHc7K1tt7wh4L62yfJkNM_oHMiFk-NI61PPgL8PQuWn7Nr7FRfCwbr9L5sWHASbXDw5ReOU/s1600/shrimp.jpg" height="375" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>a sandy-colored smooth bay shrimp</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We thought it was dead since it was just lying in the wash zone of the beach. Either my husband or Alice went to pick it up (I don't remember who) and it flipped away from us! We all gave a jump and a scream, then picked it up and put it back in the ocean! It was a good start to a fun beach walk!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This little shrimp isn't just your average cocktail ingredient. Oh no, he's got quite the story. Smooth bay shrimp (<a href="https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/12721/L_stylirostris.pdf?sequence=1" target="_blank"><i>Lissograngon stylirostris</i></a>) host a nasty little parasite named <i>Argeia pugettensis</i>, a bopyrid isopod. The isopod will attach itself to a <a href="http://coseeppprime.blogspot.com/2010/08/smooth-bay-shrimp-lissocrangon.html" target="_blank">shrimp's gills</a> and use the shrimp's carapace as an extra layer of shelter. The first one to attach to the shrimp develops into a female.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmzEyEexNtlo_v640lCAMBvb9IOBZqwlxyLEudV43vgWhqkOt2LPcM6Bfp68exVkSaTpz1RwryRa67qXVxAZ2Tq5EgC_MHaS1F14QJd7copxDzFYnWz9gXniQUc1RLuoJF06Cd5KoVRf0/s1600/bopyrid+isopod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmzEyEexNtlo_v640lCAMBvb9IOBZqwlxyLEudV43vgWhqkOt2LPcM6Bfp68exVkSaTpz1RwryRa67qXVxAZ2Tq5EgC_MHaS1F14QJd7copxDzFYnWz9gXniQUc1RLuoJF06Cd5KoVRf0/s1600/bopyrid+isopod.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"Last one to the shrimp is a <strike>rotten egg</strike> male!" - <a href="http://www.chucksaddiction.com/bopyrid.html" target="_blank">parasitic isopod</a></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Any subsequent parasite to enter that shrimp's gills will become male and <a href="http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2425657?uid=3739512&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21103257780027" target="_blank">fertilize the female parasite's eggs</a>. Once the little larvae hatch, they head out in search of an intermediate host (namely a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calanoida" target="_blank">calanoid copepod</a>) to <strike>ruin someone else's day </strike>develop further until it can start the whole process over again by swimming up into a shrimp's gills.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiZK1t9czC7SZyNYK-c23gKO-oFG11l4LB0MxhOnt-e5N8T8FBegDt6xU6jmAEU6Km2YH2JJQe3lwU1spK26-SaDOgA3TNyABT2StvD30CIQt9Xt9n02raLHyrtBCg9iw5ToDuHo_Kmk/s1600/shrimp+with+parasite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiZK1t9czC7SZyNYK-c23gKO-oFG11l4LB0MxhOnt-e5N8T8FBegDt6xU6jmAEU6Km2YH2JJQe3lwU1spK26-SaDOgA3TNyABT2StvD30CIQt9Xt9n02raLHyrtBCg9iw5ToDuHo_Kmk/s1600/shrimp+with+parasite.jpg" height="375" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"Gross Steve, you've got something on your back!" - Larry the shrimp</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"AH! Larry, you've got something on YOUR back!" - Steve the shrimp</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i> "AHHH!" - Larry and Steve</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"AHHHHHH!" - all the shrimp EVERYWHERE! </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Luckily for the shrimp we found, it wasn't infected with anything.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yet.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(<i>Dun-dun-dun!</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Stay tuned to see more of our beach discoveries!</span></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145180573468889065.post-20119380020667407792014-01-03T12:37:00.003-08:002014-01-03T12:38:43.461-08:00Let's Review<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Happy New Year!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I'm so excited for what 2014 has to bring! The most recent thing will be our dear friends' wedding this weekend, so I feel like we're starting the year off on the right foot! Before we head out to celebrate I wanted to look back on 2013 (like I did <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-look-back-at-2012.html" target="_blank">last year with 2012</a>). So, without further ado, here are the top 10 posts from last year:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">10. <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/04/lets-talk-about-crabs-baby.html" target="_blank">Let's talk about crabs, baby!</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This was a review of a different color: going over the most recent crab chat I had with some Deadliest Catch fans! I answered the question, "Who can fish in Alaskan waters" immediately, but I'm realizing that I still need to write a post about those infamous crab farts! Hooray for 2014!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Gyi7ULawgZiAG8dGzMD5_e7lXcxnL9uQ1X48kvSZho0hH71Dqhp1kip0BmiyzjXciYDzzPBaqyPU9AJhatpk6NAkajfyvnz7bzYi0fqvHU-1d6nAn-5_c7bsE_hvXv0P0YlT2ZEh9Ew/s1600/crab+fart+bubbles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Gyi7ULawgZiAG8dGzMD5_e7lXcxnL9uQ1X48kvSZho0hH71Dqhp1kip0BmiyzjXciYDzzPBaqyPU9AJhatpk6NAkajfyvnz7bzYi0fqvHU-1d6nAn-5_c7bsE_hvXv0P0YlT2ZEh9Ew/s500/crab+fart+bubbles.jpg" width="396.25" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">9. <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/01/cod-are-just-like-people.html" target="_blank">Cod are just like people</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Cod like to eat snow crabs and my fellow University of Alaska Fairbanks alum Laurinda Marcello tells us how that affects the snow crab population. A lot of you guys already know the answer to that, but for those of you who haven't read the post, click the link to see if snow crabs should be more afraid of cod or themselves!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">8. <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/01/happy-new-year.html" target="_blank">Happy New Year!</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">WOOOO! You guys like to party just as much as this hermit crab!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZlFZpTmfOcbl1v5I73VxJuYnNbpEepK_v_aiff935BriYSRS7WsOXoqI5m4D4niQ9uaRWvhSfOaETWag7sDNdE5JUlyaW2sKPakVP-9w0KkZZqxPxlmUkJdtQ-zB9jRKABwcsERsHe58/s1600/cloak+anemone+silly+string.png.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="418.75" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZlFZpTmfOcbl1v5I73VxJuYnNbpEepK_v_aiff935BriYSRS7WsOXoqI5m4D4niQ9uaRWvhSfOaETWag7sDNdE5JUlyaW2sKPakVP-9w0KkZZqxPxlmUkJdtQ-zB9jRKABwcsERsHe58/s500/cloak+anemone+silly+string.png.jpg" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <i>um, you got a little something on your face. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">7. <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/02/trading-what-for-protection.html" target="_blank">Trading WHAT for protection?</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Fiddler crabs: just when you think you <i>might</i> start liking them, they go and do something like this. What's the "this"? Living a 'free love' lifestyle in the name of property protection. You do what you gotta do, fiddler crab females, just don't expect me to bring a casserole over for the next "potluck" you throw, OK?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUix7laYaOfdNnbzK4gMhealuG7RscBq5xnm3aw4PS0mWNI8Ah9wZAhRrtibnrHBDySGjOPptZKoNrUG1Xce3tzezn-AqIE_vuqP0JFBrxuoRt7uy6MpG6DZYtKuMD1vD7q0mMf6zHXdg/s1600/fiddler+crab+Tanya+Detto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="451.5" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUix7laYaOfdNnbzK4gMhealuG7RscBq5xnm3aw4PS0mWNI8Ah9wZAhRrtibnrHBDySGjOPptZKoNrUG1Xce3tzezn-AqIE_vuqP0JFBrxuoRt7uy6MpG6DZYtKuMD1vD7q0mMf6zHXdg/s500/fiddler+crab+Tanya+Detto.jpg" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>dang it! why do they have to be so cute!?! </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">6. <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/02/i-crab-heart-you.html" target="_blank">I *crab heart* you!</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You guys really saw the beauty in crab hearts just like I did. I hope it was a happy Valentine's Day for anyone who used my crab heart card! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">5. <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/06/giving-whole-new-meaning-to-shrimp.html" target="_blank">Giving a whole new meaning to "shrimp"</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Who knew shrimp embryos could be so endearing?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7tVa36WGSeDsu4zRhMV6Tw3LFB6Fmw60SqEK85wTXsAANMfOknvxTiHZoHJ2cBSlo7gSixMWOX6wtw5oscn2wV6MIyAupjQf98AdOdhyBfDKlZgLrhh9ZSvBy5f1V-JDfdeAp6pu82NI/s1600/spot34_01s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7tVa36WGSeDsu4zRhMV6Tw3LFB6Fmw60SqEK85wTXsAANMfOknvxTiHZoHJ2cBSlo7gSixMWOX6wtw5oscn2wV6MIyAupjQf98AdOdhyBfDKlZgLrhh9ZSvBy5f1V-JDfdeAp6pu82NI/s500/spot34_01s.jpg" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">4. <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/04/big-ol-crab.html" target="_blank">Big Ol' Crab!</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In complete contrast to #5, this post was all about the largest recorded snow crab ever. I had to guestimate the actual size based on weight and crudely photoshop a picture, but you all got the idea.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">3. <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/02/say-aaaaaaah.html" target="_blank">Say "AAAAAAAH!!!"</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQrw3-C_et6_y516V9cG2S4YmMBzaJCudY3Ch3KeONr0m3R7yb4fidfV24zjmZtnLsxMrkp5Ua90LRTuHKAEaHfp0wQsdlyqwxf0Yt1dVfSbmbPgKRf45nLAGSfhkiEI9h6-qU4LwVUM/s1600/Peanuts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="441.25" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQrw3-C_et6_y516V9cG2S4YmMBzaJCudY3Ch3KeONr0m3R7yb4fidfV24zjmZtnLsxMrkp5Ua90LRTuHKAEaHfp0wQsdlyqwxf0Yt1dVfSbmbPgKRf45nLAGSfhkiEI9h6-qU4LwVUM/s500/Peanuts.jpg" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>AAAAAAAH!!!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">2. <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/03/hermit-crabs-do-twist.html" target="_blank">hermit crabs do the twist</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Come on hermit crab, let's do the twist! (Any Chubby Checker fans out there?) You guys must have been really interested in hermit crab abdomens and whether or not they twist the same way. Either that or you really liked my Beyoncé joke. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">1. <a href="http://snowcrablove.blogspot.com/2013/04/king-crabs-are-red.html" target="_blank">King crabs are red,</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">King crabs are blue,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This post taught you all,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">How to tell the difference!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjviO-nQOT6IZLhTCXT6Knnzt6Cv7QqYGgZYNSgTJUdF38N1vLL2VP5g6Y3lGh-YzuUSZYaubHhfOOiBvIMCX68DeWUwti-BPzujP0Xaooi8rJH0yoZOQIfKnQsUxBZSQVEk2stHmryKAE/s1600/RKC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="321.25" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjviO-nQOT6IZLhTCXT6Knnzt6Cv7QqYGgZYNSgTJUdF38N1vLL2VP5g6Y3lGh-YzuUSZYaubHhfOOiBvIMCX68DeWUwti-BPzujP0Xaooi8rJH0yoZOQIfKnQsUxBZSQVEk2stHmryKAE/s500/RKC.jpg" width="500" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"I'm red" - Paralithodes camtschaticus</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP5dXCyxAuNNQ6cvriE-nV-KCHgRjEnWOWp2epBwz9qqugTxnW781zZumY2z6EXQMcVYOYTFLUODDWkFQRVvNTuqEFuqnOsXf298vASghtpydLAAC-_PNjJYzE9s9TG_sJWkS7psOs1_Q/s1600/BKC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP5dXCyxAuNNQ6cvriE-nV-KCHgRjEnWOWp2epBwz9qqugTxnW781zZumY2z6EXQMcVYOYTFLUODDWkFQRVvNTuqEFuqnOsXf298vASghtpydLAAC-_PNjJYzE9s9TG_sJWkS7psOs1_Q/s500/BKC.jpg" width="485" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"I'm blue" - Paralithodes platypus</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It also taught you that I'm a terrible poet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Well, that's it! Let's see what 2014 has to offer! </span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183016130396464609noreply@blogger.com0