National Seafood Month

Many of you know I LOVE October. 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, Halloween, 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 Seafood 101 pamphlet. 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:

"Bering Sea or bust!"

Happy National Seafood Month!

Give Thanks (for crabs!)

It's been that kind of day where the winter weather is catching up with my nose and throat. But that's not stopping me from enjoying this view:

winter wonderland (aka my backyard)

Or from crafting a crab-themed Thanksgiving decoration! I started with a pumpkin that I had decorated for a competition at work this past Halloween.

ghost crab (get it? because it says 'Boo'?)

Oh man, I am so clever! You may remember learning about ghost crabs from earlier posts (like here and here). They are super speedy crabs that can disappear as quickly as you spot them, hence their name! But when you do catch a glimpse, they're quite lovely little crustaceans.

a ghost crab captured by Pat Barry in India

I thought a ghost crab would be the perfect Halloween-themed crab to bring to the crafting table. I made the legs out of popsicle sticks and painted the whole guy white. Then I simply wrote on him with a sharpie to really bring it home. After Halloween he underwent some modifications to fit in at our Life Aquatic party my husband and I hosted:

Adam made a man-of-war (not to be mistaken with an electric jellyfish)

and decorated the pumpkin as a sugar crab

I love this movie!

Today began the final transformation (probably) for our little pumpkin-crab friend. I added more stripes to his legs but made them fall/harvest colored (red, orange, yellow, and brown) then simply added a little banner saying, "give thanks". Thanksgiving is often overlooked, but I think it's an important message to remember! So, do what the crab says:

Happy Halloween! Hermit Crab!

Happy Halloween!

And Happy Halloween Crabday!
And Happy Halloween Hermit Crab Crabday!!!

Halloween Hermit Crab

Ciliopagurus strigatus

"Trick or Me! (Because I'm obviously a treat.)"

OK, I'll calm down. You see, Halloween is my favorite holiday by far. I love the costumes, the decorations, the spooky movies, the pumpkin-and-chocolate everything. So you can imagine how thrilling it was for me to find a Halloween crab! And a beautiful crab to boot!

"Even my tush is cute!"

We've already had a Crabday for hermit crabs in general, and a Crabday for the coconut crab (a shell-less hermit crab), but what makes the Halloween hermit crab special (aside from its name) are their orange and black legs. Those bold legs also differentiate the Halloween hermit crab from the other 3 species of hermits within the "Ciliopagurus strigatus complex".

claw coloration in the complex:

(A) Ciliopagurus strigatus, (B) C. tricolor,

(C) C. vakovako, and (D) galzini

What is a "Ciliopagurus strigatus complex?" It is a grouping of 4 species within the genus Ciliopagurus that are all very similar with the exception of their coloration. Normally, they might even be considered different variations of the same species, but they do, in fact, have enough genetic variation from one another to justify the different species names. In the aquarium world, they're still all commonly called Halloween hermit crabs though. Overall, the take away message that I got from this is, "Wow! The Halloween hermit crab has some purdy cousins!"

"Don't I know it!" - Halloween hermit crab

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween (and a relatively dry one for our East Coast readers)!

Complex reading:
Poupin, J., and M. C. Malay. 2009. Identification of a Ciliopagurus strigatus (Herbst, 1804) species-complex, with description of a new species from French Polynesia (Crustacea, Decapoda, Anomura, Diogenidae). Zoosystema 31: 209 - 232.

Halloween is coming!

I feel so behind on my Halloween preparations: I haven't started decorating my proton pack (guess what I'll be!), I only have 4 pumpkins and one spider hanging in my living room, and I don't know what to carve into my real pumpkin, which I don't even have yet. Phew!

Well, if you're like me, here's some crabby inspiration for the Halloween season:

"Crab or Treat!" - Jen

We saw an amazing crab costume here donned by UAF student Jen Stoutamore, plus other crab costumes for people here and here, babies here, and dogs here and here.

"I feel like the trick is on me." - beagle

You can also get costume inspiration from the zombie crab, yeti crab, decorator crab, halimeda crab, or boxer crab!

there's a new sheriff in town with this zombie crab

(bonus points to whoever knows which show I'm referencing here)

We saw some neat crab pumpkin templates here, plus you can download other nautical-themed templates here to make this bad boy:

 I love how the eyes are the only things fully cut out!

Need decor? Here's a king crab ball that you can assemble and hang in your home! It was originally designed for World Animal Day, but with a little colorful creativity it can be a Halloween ball too!

(this was inspired by Martha Stewart's spider web balls)

Alright! I'm ready to rock out some costume accessories, hang up some black and orange balls, dangle some spiders from my window, and carve up a pumpkin! Good luck with your Halloween preparations!

October opies

Oh man, I love October! From the changing leaves (which is the #1 thing I miss the most from Illinois [#2 is Lou Malnati's pizza]), to the pumpkin-flavored everything, to Halloween costumes, you just can't beat October!

these guys know what I'm talking about!

(OK, they're really celebrating the Aliwan Fiesta in the Philippines,

but I bet anyone could pull off that get-up for Halloween!)

Another exciting thing that comes with October is the snow crab fishery opening! The quota was decreased this year to 66.3 million pounds of crab from last year's nearly 90 million pounds. That's taking out about a quarter of the pounds from last year, but we have to remember that last year was an exciting one with a 64% raise in quota and the stock no longer declared overfished! So, while this year is going to be less profitable than last year for fishermen (and less tasty for snow crab munchers around the world), it will still be better than 2 years ago.

mature male biomass for commercial crab species caught

during the eastern Bering Sea trawl surveys

You may remember last year that I said we'd have to stay tuned to this fishery because of how variable the snow crab population can be any given year. In the graph above from a draft copy of this year's summer trawl survey, you can see how the snow crab biomass dipped down from 2011 to 2012, so the decrease in quota makes sense for this year's fishery: less mature males out there = less mature males to catch. Again, given the variable nature of the snow crab population, a decrease this year doesn't mean a decrease next year. With continued care of the fishery, it may very well increase, and at the very least be a healthy fishery for the following seasons! That will keep this kid happy:

and isn't that what fishery management is all about?

BKC!

What's BKC, you ask? Why, it's today's Crabday friend:

Blue King Crab

Paralithodes platypus

The blue king crab (BKC) is called P. platypus because it is the one crab that has webbed dactyls and a duck bill:

Ha, no. No, that's not true. You got me!

BKC range throughout the Bering Sea and down through southeast Alaska. In Juneau, they like to hang out by bronze statues of Alaskan fish and kelp.

nice spines!

Whoa, no! That's not true either! That "crab" is really our artsy BKC geneticist Jen Stoutamore, donning her AMAZING Halloween costume. She loves blues as much as I love opies, if you can believe it!

not a P. platypus but a creative H. sapiens

OK, so seriously, BKC are an important crab in Alaska. They've had several fisheries opened and closed throughout their range. Most notably, the Pribilof Island fishery was closed in 1999, which affects other fisheries that may scoop up blues as bycatch. Because of their population declines, there's been quite a bit of research on 'em popping up: remember these SFOS students' presentations from here?

true blue from Saint Matthew

One population of BKC is all the way up in the Bering Strait, chillin' around Little Diomede Island and King Island (off the Seward Peninsula). That's where Heidi Herter et al. and friends recently looked at size and fecundity of male and female P. platypus.

Alaska with Little Diomede and King Island under the yellow star

and the Pribilof Islands under the dark blue star

They found that these more northerly crabs were smaller than their Pribilof counterparts (which we've seen with snow crabs here), and as such, the females produced less eggs and subsequently released fewer larvae. Interestingly, the decrease in numbers from eggs to larvae (not all embryos make it to the larval stage) was similar between Pribilof BKC and Bering Strait BKC (32% and 30%, respectively).

Oh, BKC, you never fail to amaze me!

(Remember this guy and his eelpout friend from this post?)

Read more:
Herter, H., B. Daly, J. S. Swingle, and C. Lean. 2011. Morphometrics, fecundity, and hatch timing of blue king crabs (Paralithodes platypus) from the Bering Strait, Alaska, USA. Journal of Crustacean Biology 31: 304-312.

Dress up for Crabday!

Halloween is SO CLOSE (can you tell I love this holiday?) and I have my costume all picked out. You know who else is dressed and ready to go? This Crabday's special crab:

The Decorator Crab

Oregonia gracilis

tiny decorator crab: "Hello from the Pribilofs!"

There are several species with the common name 'decorator crab', but I wanted to focus on the 'graceful decorator crab' Oregonia gracilis because it's an Alaskan local. Decorator crabs like to attach whatever is around them on their backs and legs for camouflage costume ideas.

For example, this crab wants to be a sponge for Halloween:

see the hairs on his carapace and legs?

that's where he attaches his bling!

This crab wants to be red algae (or maybe a Spartan from 300??):

"Prepare for glory!"

Now, decorator crabs don't just decorate themselves for camouflage Halloween; some of the plants/animals they stick to themselves have toxins or chemical defenses that help protect the crab from predation.

Either way (camo or chemical defense), it's pretty entertaining to watch these guys dress themselves. Greg Albrecht (former snow crab student) recorded this fellow dressing up and shared it before, but it's worth a second view:

Have a Happy Halloween!

Halloween Inspiration

Halloween is coming up and you know what that means: more opportunities to crab it up!

I need this in Molly-size for the next time

I go pumpkin picking (from here)

You may remember the crab-dog from this post, but that pup was not alone:

she's clearly enjoying this more than he is

oh beagle, you make my day!

(disclaimer: this is a lobster-dog, not a crab dog)

Crabs aren't just for the dogs; these geniuses made amazing crab-o-lanterns!
 

this is just one of several awesome stencils

the Pumpkin Lady sells!

this pumpkin takes the cake! (or pie?)

I love the details!

Jen, creator of the second crabby pumpkin, also used the king crab template from here to make Halloween-themed crab pods:

Have you made any crab pods? Send 'em my way!

Alright, that's a lot of inspiration, but I'll leave you with one more, just for the humans:

*smooches*

You're welcome!

World Animal Day

Happy World Animal Day!

I didn't know about this day until I looked at my calendar yesterday and saw it written in (below the First Quarter moon picture). World Animal Day is celebrated every year on October 4th - yet another reason to love October (you know: fall, leaves changing colors, all the squash you can eat, snow coming down the mountains, and HALLOWEEN!!!).

To celebrate World Animal Day, I thought I'd take a little inspiration from my Halloween decorations:

from Martha Stewart's Halloween craft collection

and turn it into a crab-tastic piece that's both fun AND educational. This way you can use it for your WAD party (I'm sure you're having one) as decor, a conversation starter, and a way to learn a little bit more about the animals I love: crabs!

Why am I making a ball out of crabs? Red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) exhibit a podding behavior during the day, balling up with hundreds of their friends (they meander off at night to find dinner).

that's a whole lotta red king crabs!

See where I'm going with this? What you'll need to do is print out 12 of these for a king crab pod:

imagine all the colors you could use for this! Red, blue, golden...

Now the fun starts: connect three crabs together at one of the 5 points with a brad. I like to work around one main crab until I have 5 attached around him, leaving me with 6 total connected.

3 crabs joined together at one of the 5 points

 

6 connected (5 surrounding the main crab)

Next, take your 6 crabs and form them as a bowl in order to be able to attach 5 more crabs. Again, each point will connect 3 crabs.

joining 2 points in order to add

a third crab to this joint

the blue "brads" are where the original crabs

from the first group of 6 are joined together

to add a new layer of crabs;

the red "brad" is where the new layer of

crabs are connecting to each other

The last crab is the trickiest, but once he's on you'll have a wonderful, 12-strong pod of kings!

ready to hang for your WAD party!

Read about podding king crabs off of Kodiak, AK:
Dew, C. B. 1990. Podding behavior of red king crab, Paralithodes camtschatica. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 47: 1944-1958.

(Exo)skeleton Costumes

Crabs have all the luck: they're already dressed for Halloween.

Scotty: "Um, I can see your skeleton."

But why are vertebrate skeletons so intriguing during Halloween? Maybe because they protect so much, but are hidden. Here we have vertebrates with their spinal column protecting their spinal cord:

Charlie Brown's skeleton: see his spine?

Blossom's short, and so is her spine.

This was just weird.

And there are so many more like this! Look them up here!

Crustaceans have an exoskeleton, meaning they don't have a spine to protect their nervous system, just their carapace. When you dissect a crab or lobster you can see their ventral nervous system easily (once you remove their organs and such):

the nervous system of a Chionoecetes bairdi female:

the clear/white cords are nerves going to each leg

a clearer drawing, from this book

Homarus americanus ventral nerve cord and ganglia (also clear/white)

are more spread out with their longer carapace (dissected during Biol 310 lab)

If anything, crab skeletons are way cooler (and a bit more creepy). Either way, have a Happy Halloween!

really?