You're stressing us out, man!

Remember when we learned that crustaceans actually feel pain here? 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.

it's electric!

Well, stemming from that research, scientists are now learning that crustaceans may feel anxiety 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! 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!

"man, you cray!" - 'stressed' crayfish

This, along with some physiological work 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!

Not anymore, Dr. Evil. Not anymore.

Come with Crabster if you want to live!

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!?!?!?!

"I want to dance on your bones!" - every robot, I assume

BUT, when I saw the Crabster CR200, my heart instantly melted!

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 ELEVEN cameras can be clearer with our little crab-like friend. This link had two videos of the Crabster in action, so check it out!

It's like the large, potentially harmful, but still adorable version of these guys I bought my California nieces, so if Aunt Molly approves, so should you!

What am I doing here?

I mentioned last year that I was going to keep track of the keyword searches that bring people to Snow Crab Love,  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!?!?"

1. Tina Turner

Well, obviously!

2. Veggies and Dip in Bread

This one also makes sense: the internet LOVES carbs and I made a carb-tastic appetizer for a NOAA potluck that could easily be morphed into a crab-themed treat:

3. Flamingos

flamingos get their pink hue from eating brine shrimp!

4. Kivalina, Alaska

Remember when there was the secret of the (orange) ooze? 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?)!

the "orange tide" ended up being spores

5. Dead Iguana Pictures

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!

Other fun searches were "Captain Picard", "Baby Beagle Costumes", "If I only had a brain", and "Kelsey Grammar" (what?).

this dog! it gets me every time!

What brought you here?

Let's Review

Happy New Year!

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 last year with 2012). So, without further ado, here are the top 10 posts from last year:

10. Let's talk about crabs, baby!

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!

9. Cod are just like people

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!

8. Happy New Year!

WOOOO! You guys like to party just as much as this hermit crab!

 um, you got a little something on your face.

7. Trading WHAT for protection?

Fiddler crabs: just when you think you might 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?

dang it! why do they have to be so cute!?!

6. I *crab heart* you!

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!

5. Giving a whole new meaning to "shrimp"

Who knew shrimp embryos could be so endearing?

4. Big Ol' Crab!

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.

3. Say "AAAAAAAH!!!"

AAAAAAAH!!!

2. hermit crabs do the twist

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.

1. King crabs are red,

King crabs are blue,
This post taught you all,
How to tell the difference!

"I'm red" - Paralithodes camtschaticus

"I'm blue" - Paralithodes platypus

It also taught you that I'm a terrible poet.

Well, that's it! Let's see what 2014 has to offer!

Crab Weddings

( from an Oregon travel ad)

I love weddings. Love them! And it's not just because my wedding was the happiest day of my life, or that my oldest friend's wedding was the most fun I've ever had. (That link will bring you to the FLASH MOB my husband, my sister, my parents, the whole bridal party, and most of the guests participated in!!!)


It's because of the celebration of love FOOD! Bacon-wrapped sausage, sockeye salmon, Dungeness crab, oysters, cupcakes, s'mores - it's all so good! So, because I've been inspired by all the celebrations of two people becoming a family, here I present some crustacean-themed wedding inspiration:

If you're lucky enough to live near water, fresh seafood is always welcome at any event (unless your family has any allergies... maybe you should check that before serving an all-crab buffet...).

steamed blue crabs can take a crab boil up a classy notch or two

You know how I feel about Dungies - if you can serve them freshly
(and properly) prepared like at this Pacific Northwest wedding, then go for it!

I love that not only did they serve lobster, but this couple really embraced

the glamour that comes with a lobster bib

And if eating crab just isn't your thing, maybe you can work in a costume or two like this amazing couple:

the groom and his friends surprised the bride with a "Little Mermaid" rendition 

(photographer Trista Lerit's website)

Want more inspiration? Check out these search results from Pinterest!

links: invitations, bow ties,

personalized mallets, Maryland-themed groom's cake, and place cards

Does this taste a little toxic to you?

You can't taste all contaminants in your food, so how do you know the crab you're eating is safe? The following question was asked during the last crab chat:

Is crab meat tested for contaminants before going to market?

The short answer: yes, somewhat. Alaskan seafood is generally free of contaminants (as is seafood from the rest of the country, according to "government tests") and the Alaska Seafood company follows FDA's Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) regulation program. Hooray for Alaskan crabs!

enjoying fresh contaminant-free Alaskan Dungeness crab

HOWEVER, when it comes to imported seafood, we can't be too sure how safe it is. We import a lot (which is surprising to me with all the 'merican seafood we have here), but only about 2% of it is tested by the FDA. Of that seafood tested, 8% of imports from China and 16% of imports from Taiwan were contaminated in 2010. Does that mean you shouldn't eat imported seafood? No. But I would choose wisely about what kind of fish, shrimp, or crab I buy with the help of Blue Ocean Institute's seafood guide.

screenshot of the Blue Ocean Institute online guide

All the focus shouldn't only be overseas. Like I said, domestic fisheries are pretty clean, but the FDA does routine inspections that sometimes result in processing plant clean-ups and food recalls. Those inspections include testing the meat but also looking at facility cleanliness, meat handling, and processing techniques.

inspecting some king crab legs!

So, the longer answer: yes, domestic crab meat and a small percentage of imported crab meat is tested before going to market.

Found you!

If you follow Snow Crab Love on facebook, you may remember that I started keeping track of the non-crab related keyword searches that bring people to my blog:

this was just the beginning - it's gotten even weirder, I promise!

I'll share the final results at the end of the year, but in the mean time I was curious what other websites thought of Snow Crab Love and the search phrases that draws its way. I saw The Bloggess check her stats using Alexa, so I figured I'd check it out too. Here are the results:

TOP QUERIES DRIVING TRAFFIC TO SCL FROM SEARCH ENGINES

Totally weird, right? But when I google "the bullet crab", sure enough a link to this post comes up (currently it is the 7th link in the list).

a mantis shrimp's fist accelerates faster than a speeding bullet

(If you watch Arrested Development, you might get this photo reference)

The one that really confused me was "hat is fecundity". After pondering what it could mean and picturing things like this:

the hat had babies

I realized it was probably a commonly misspelled question of, "What is fecundity?" And what is it? Fecundity refers to how many babies something can produce (what their reproductive capacity is). For example, a female snow crab's fecundity can be measured in how many eggs she holds in her clutch (if you click on the link, check out slides 14 - 16). Or the fecundity of my hat (inspired by Princess Beatrice at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, and worn during a midnight 5K race) could be measured by how many little hats spring forth from it's bow-y goodness.

(this was a few years ago, but a good hat [joke] never goes out of fashion)

So now you know. I wonder if this is going to change my search analytics...

Crab Bowl

Are you ready for some football!?!?!?!

This year's Super Bowl features two teams from very crab-centric cities: the Dungeness crab loving San Francisco and the blue crab loving Baltimore!

Metacarcinus magister vs. Callinectes sapidus!

Both crabs are pretty awesome in their own ways, but in a Crab Bowl, who do you think would win? The defensively strong Dungies or the quick swimming blues? Weigh in at the poll on the sidebar!

Update:
Well, everyone who voiced their opinions were on Team Dungie, but Crab Bowl did not reflect Super Bowl. I guess the Ravens were lucky they weren't a team of swimming crabs. Good job, boys. Good job.

P.S. Remember that blue crabs are really Bears fans anyways? Go Bears!

OUCH!

OK, I think we all thought about this when dumping a lobster or crab into a boiling pot:

"Yikes! At least they can't feel this. Right? Right guys?"

WRONG!

A new study in the Journal of Experimental Biology that is making the rounds on the internet looked at shock avoidance by the shore crab Carcinus maenus. Crabs were placed in a tank with two shelters: one safe and one rigged to shock them. Over a few trials, the crabs avoided the shocking shelter and chose the safe one; by avoiding the shock after trial and error, the crabs were exhibiting a learned behavior from what we, as humans, would perceive as pain. In other words, the crabs learned the one shelter would hurt them while the other one would not, and after a few painful shocks, they would seek out the shelter that wasn't harmful.

a tale of Goldi-crab

This study's results are not so shocking (hey-oh) to me - my snow crabs would consistently massage their limbs after fighting with fellow crabs or reach for their missing limb at the joint when another crab would rip it off. That's why my heart really went out to my dear Legoless.

"I have two legs!" - Legoless in his sanctuary

It's also why I'm so passionate about how I went about sacrificing my snow crabs, and how we prepare Dungeness crabs when we eat them. In a word: QUICK! There's all this "humane" talk about chilling lobsters and crabs in the air for awhile to bring their body temperature down until they stop moving, but, in my mind, that's just slowly suffocating them as they can't breath as well out of water. Also, do you really think an animal who is used to seawater is going to appreciate being on a mass of melting fresh water? I mean, osmoregulation, people.

remember learning about osmoregulation in lyre crabs?

When I had to sacrifice my crabs to measure their gonads, I would take them out of the water, whisper an apology, then swiftly, in one motion, rip their carapaces off of their bodies and remove their heart. Boom. Done. No waiting around for the inevitable. There is this idea of stabbing the lobsters in the heart before boiling, and that may work, but again I'd advise against forcing them to sit on ice just so that you are not so afraid to handle them while they're still active. Man up, people!

Read more:

Magee, B., and R. W. Elwood. 2013. Shock avoidance by discrimination learning in the shore crab (Carcinus maenas) is consistent with a key criterion for pain. Journal of Experimental Biology 216: 353-358.

nerd

What did you do during your lunch break today? I found the one ring that rules us all, hid it the only place befitting such a ring, and wrote a clue for the owner of the ring in Elvish:

If you can't read Elvish (or my attempt at it), it says:

"The one ring is safe in the

clutches of an immortalized

denizen of the deep

~MZ"

Obviously, the only "denizen of the deep" deserving of such an honor is this bronze beauty (remember meeting him here?):

 "My precious!!!!"

(Props to Pat Barry for figuring out the message!)

A look back at 2012

It's New Year's Eve and, with 2013 bearing down on us, I thought it would be fun to look back at the top 10 posts from 2012!

10. I got a fever...

I'm really glad to revisit this post. I mean, who doesn't love a Christopher Walken reference, am I right? Plus the opportunity to learn a little bit more about chitin, which makes up the second most abundant biomass on Earth, was too good to pass up.

9. Aging crabs

a snow crab brain!

I'd like to think that this post was so popular because of the awesome snow crab brain picture, but I'm pretty sure it got a lot of hits from my proud parents since it was the first post after my successful defense. Thanks Mom and Dad!

8. Boo!

I learned about the not-so-small ghost fishing problem we have here in Alaska at the Marine Science Symposium and shared the info with you. You guys must have been impressed by either (A) the number of derelict pots estimated out in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea or (B) my Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoon.

 ghost fishing! (yuck-yuck-yuck)

7. O is for opilio

I'm not surprised this post was up there: learning the difference between my dear sweet snow crabs Chionoecetes opilio and the red-eyed Tanner crabs Chionoecetes bairdi is probably the most important thing you'll learn all year. Or ever.

6. Waiter, there's a crab in my bivalve: part 2

a pea crab

Do you know what's more fun than finding a mussel in your mussel shell? Finding a pea crab in your mussel shell! I haven't found one yet, but I'm not giving up hope. (This post was "part 2" because I was drawn to the pea crab phenomenon by looking up recipes of mussels or clams stuffed with crab meat, which in itself was inspired by the shellback crab. My mind: it's a strange, happy, crabby place!)

5. 4 for the price of 1!

Insulamon palawanense aka the most beautiful crab!

New species are always exciting to find, especially when we start thinking we know everything about this planet. So four species blew my mind, and yours, apparently. (I also liked the picture of I. porculum, but that's because I'm a ham. Haha!)

4. Bah-Ram-Ewe

Does anyone else love animals with common names referring to other animals? Because I sure do, and the sheep crab is no exception!

a sheep crab with a sea hare

3. Why is this turtle so unhappy?

If you haven't read this post, do yourself a favor and click the link. This poor turtle's story is... just ridiculous.

2. How to prepare and cook Dungeness crab

This post is pretty self-explanatory and was inspired by an Alaska Marine Science Symposium talk on paralytic shellfish poisoning (and Gordon Ramsay, in a roundabout way). I eat a lot of Dungies so I wanted to both learn more about PSP and share the information with you.

1. What's ocean acidification?

Look at you, nerds! The top post from 2012 was a chemistry lesson on ocean acidification! I've never been so proud of my readership as I am at this moment!

my cartoon on carbon dioxide uptake and how that affects the ocean's chemistry

Thank you for reading Snow Crab Love and

have a Happy New Year!