The Abominable Snowcrab!

Another Crabday, another awesome crab to learn about! This week's Crabday was inspired by this amazing picture of a Chinese mitten crab's claw from the Mitten Crab Recording Project:

Holy hairy awesomeness, Batman! 

Is it weird that I want to pet it?

(And by 'pet it', I mean rub it on my face.)

This crazy furry picture made me think of another fuzzy-sleeved crustacean:

The Yeti Crab!

Kiwa hirsuta

I'm in love!

You've probably seen this guy at least once in the "Whoa, that's weird" section of the news (my first stop for news readin'). These amazing 'yeti' crabs were found 1.5 miles beneath the surface of the ocean at hydrothermal vents about 900 miles south of Easter Island (you know, the one with all the heads). That's where those beautiful hairlike filaments come into play: they use the filaments (with sulfo-oxidizing bacteria) to filter toxic minerals spewing forth from the vents.

yeti crab: 

"Oh hi! I didn't see you there, what with my teeny tiny eyes."

What do they eat in this crazy environment? Mussels of course! The yeti crab is believed to be an omnivore, and was seen munching on mussels crushed by the deep-sea subs.

Watch out, Bythograea crabs: there are two yetis!

I think it's time I come clean: the yeti crab is actually a squat lobster! But, in my defense, squat lobsters are more closely related to crabs than true lobsters. And, come on, aren't you glad you learned about the yeti crab today? I know I am!

this is a male Kiwa hirsuta: see how he almost has 

a lobster tail, but it's SQUAT? If you took a peek under that tail, 

you'd still find his gonopods like true lobsters.

Read more:

MacPherson, E., W. Jones, and M. Segonzac. 2005. A new squat lobster family of Galatheoidea (Crustacea, Decapoda, Anomura) from the hydrothermal vents of the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge. Zoosystema 27: 709-723.

Shanghai hairy crabs revisited

After posting my last blog, I thought more about crab vending machines, and tried to look at it with an open mind. I found this AP video that explains the vending machine better than most of the ones I was watching in Chinese or Japanese (go figure):



I also, admittedly, like to read comments on YouTube videos, and some of them made me think:

"The only difference between these cold-but-living crabs and the ones in restaurant supply rooms is that the public can see them." --  I personally have eaten freshly killed and cooked lobsters, Dungeness crabs, and red king crabs, so I shouldn't be so squeamish, should I? The difference would be that I’ve never held them in tiny boxes and forced them into a hypothermic state before eating them. Food for thought. (Ha!)

"I'm a brit living in Nanjing and saw this machine the first time the other week. To be honest it didn't surprise me. And by China standards, it's quite humane. The crabs are kept cold so they sort of hibernate then they wake up when you get them out of the machine. Compared to the conditions that other live produce are kept in (i.e. fish and frogs and terrapins sitting in dirty water, sometimes with other dead animals in the same tank), this seems to be a step forward for China." -- Interesting point. My friend Kat has been touring Asia and witnessed a lot of different conditions for other live animals. Maybe these crabs are lucky.

"Finally a way to defeat the GIANT ENEMY CRAB!" -- NO! WRONG! Thumbs down on your opinion, buddy!!

An Alaskan opinion found here.

There's still the question of management, but I like taking a fresh look at difficult topics! What do you think?

Snickers, Tato Skins, and Crabs

You've probably already seen this, but just in case you missed it:

Yes, that’s a vending machine, selling live crabs.

WHAT?????

Live crabs!?! Because nothing says snack-on-the-go like a slightly hypothermic crustacean. Oh, and don’t forget the crab vinegar, sold conveniently on the bottom row!

cold and cramped crab

So who are these unlucky little crabs, forced into tiny “edible plastic” boxes and sold in a Nanjing (China) subway vending machine? No one really used scientific names in their articles/blogs (my nerdiness was quite offended by this), but they were commonly referred to as either “hairy crabs” or “dazhaxie”. As far as I can tell, that makes them Eriocheir sinensis, also known as the Shanghai hairy crab or the Chinese mitten crab.

Chinese mitten crab

If you’re a blue crab fisherman out of Maryland, you may have instinctively screamed and ran away from your computer. Why? The Chinese mitten crab is being quite the pesky invasive species up in American waters. It thrives in estuarine environments, making the hairy crab a great candidate for aquaculture cultivation.

However, the hairy crab is having trouble in China, potentially being affected by overfishing in the Yangtze River. (Does anyone know their management plan? Let me know!)

N = Nanjing, S = Shanghai, and the (seemingly) beautiful waterway is the Yangtze River

Really? Overfishing? No, not a crab that’s so plentiful it’s being packaged and sold live in a vending machine. And if you get a dead one, the vendor will give you three free crabs. The hairy crab is also favored for the female roe, which means that this potentially-overharvested animal is targeted specifically for their future stock (the crab embryos). Yikes.

the tastey tradition of Da Zha Xie

You know, I’ll just stick with the Tato Skins. Thanks.

Hairy crab leisurely reading material:

Anger, K. 1991. Effects of temperature and salinity on the larval development of the Chinese mitten crab Ericheir sinensis (Decapoda: Grapsidae). Marine Ecology Progress Series 72: 103-110.

Lee, T.-H., and F. Yamazaki. 1989. Cytological observations on fertilization in the Chinese fresh-water crab, Eriocheir sinensis, by artificial insemination (in vitro) and incubation. Aquaculture 76: 347-360.