7-11

As you saw here, we just got back from the lower 48 and enjoyed our fair share of great food, both slow prepared and fast! One of the places we stopped when we stayed over in Seattle was the 7-11! Really, it was just for water, but it was hard to turn down these bad boys:

TAQUITOS! how can something so bad be so good?

If there's one thing 7-11 reminds me of (other than go-go taquitos and hot dogs with molten "cheese"), it's this Crabday's crab:

Seven-Eleven Crab

Carpilius maculatus

just chillin' on some coral in Bali (lucky!)

The 7-11 crab gets its name from the 7 spots on the top of its carapace and 4 additional spots on the abdomen. Hawaiian legend says that the spots came from the sea god after handling the crab.

"I pinch... even gods!" - 7-11 crab

This crab is used for food (just like 7-11!) but may also be poisonous (just like 7-11?), but the toxicity is most likely from the crabs munching on bivalves that bioaccumulated toxic algae or the like and not from the crabs themselves (similar to our Dungeness crabs in southeast Alaska). This penchant for potential poisoning may actually help out the crab: it is listed as endangered in Singapore. These crabs need a lot less harvesting and a lot more reproducing!

"Hey, I'm working on it!"

Good luck, seven-eleven crab! But stop reminding me of go-go taquitos! The last time I ate them was the summer of 2006 (buffalo chicken flavor on Long Island), and I want to keep it that way!

Travel With Crabs: San Francisco

Sorry it's been a while since I posted, but my husband and I just got back from a whirlwind adventure in California to celebrate our friends Katie and Kyle's wedding! I've known Katie for 14 years, and Kyle was the officiant at our wedding, so you can imagine how happy we were to step away from Alaska for a bit to party with these two. While I was down in San Francisco I just couldn't help myself to devour any crab dish I found. So here you go: a gastronomic version of

When I think of crabs and San Francisco I think of... Cancer crabs! (That's not what you were expecting right? Get your heads out of the gutter, people!)

crab molt at the Crissy Field beach

Remember this little girl's adventure of trying to video crabs with her dad by the Golden Gate Bridge? It inspired me to try as many crab dishes as possible while visiting the City by the Bay.

 gotta love that SF fog, amirite?

We first stopped at one of our friends' favorite breakfast spots, Stacks on Hayes and Octavia. There were a ton of tasty crab choices, but the one that really struck my fancy was a crab fritatta with tomato, onions, avocado (which was exciting since those suckers are expensive up here in AK), and topped with hollandaise sauce. It came with country potatoes on the side and a whole bagel, which actually stretched this meal into two, and boy was it delicious!

the hollandaise sauce comes on the side,

but I was not about to waste ANY of it!

For dinner one night we went to Boudin Bakery at Fisherman's Wharf. If you're having trouble finding it, just follow the smell of fresh-baked sourdough in the air. I really wanted to eat one of these guys:

Boudin's sourdough crab

but opted for real crab instead of the doughy kind. My other friend Katie and I shared a crab cake sandwich on sourdough bread with avocado slices as well as crab and corn bisque in a sourdough bread bowl. Both were great, but if I were to go back again I would've stuck just with the chowder - it was SO creamy and delicious!

you can see the bread bowls here, as well as

a different crab friend and some tasty turtles

Finally, we were really craving sushi one night and found Ryoko's on Taylor Street (it had some pretty stellar reviews on yelp), and we were not disappointed. We went in looking for a light dinner and left happy and full after inhaling 6 different rolls and some mackeral (saba) sashimi. As far as crab went, we avoided the California Roll but still went with some fancy, not-so-authentic rolls: the Dragon Roll (crab and cucumber with flying fish roe and BBQ eel on top) and the Checkerboard Roll (crab and avocado with tuna and yellowtail on top). I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy eating, but you can take my word for it that they looked pretty and tasted amazing!

another molt at Crissy Field

All in all, it was a happy trip celebrating a lovely couple and eating a lot of good food!

Sea-themed bookmarks

You know those days when you're fishing but all you seem to catch is algae? Frustrating, but instead of throwing all that green goodness back, save some for this little craft!

Algae Bookmarks

algal crab love

You will need:

algae

watercolor paper

water

tweezers

extra paper, a couple cloths, and heavy books

shipping tape (or a laminator if you're fancy)

1. Cut your watercolor paper to size, then submerge in water (this makes it easier to manipulate the algae)

2. Arrange the algae on your paper (tweezers help with intricate designs)

it took a little finagling to get the "Z" just right

and see how the crab has green eyes, just like an opie!?!

3. Place bookmarks between cloths to dry, protecting the algae design with your extra paper, and keeping everything flat with the weight of your heavy books

4. Once dry (maybe 1 - 2 days depending on whether or not you live in a temperate rain forest), laminate and enjoy!

these were made at NOAA as examples for

Sea Week and Discovery Southeast activities 

more examples - see my little crab?

Let me know what kind of designs you come up with!

Mo' lobster, mo' problems?

When I worked for the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, one of my jobs was to catch and tag lobsters in Long Island Sound. With each lobster I handled, I'd wish it a "Good luck! Make babies!" Maybe they've been doing that in Maine too, because apparently the lobster population is BOOMING up there! Which is super exciting, right?

"I don't know what they want from ME.

It's like the more lobsters we come across,

the more problems we see."

I recently came across an article by R. W. A. Rodger writing for Canadian Marine Publication titled "American Lobster: Management Success and Market Calalmity". Rodger outlines the struggle between a large lobster population and a depressed economy. It's partially a problem of supply and demand: with such a large supply, the demand isn't as high, and the price of lobster has fallen. In his article, the price per pound is dropping below the cost of the fishery (think fuel, labor, bait, etc.), making it difficult for fishermen to even get out on the water.

 

all dressed up and no where to go

(photo from here)

So how can this be fixed? Some are saying to limit the fishery to decrease the supply of lobster into the market. But others are worried that, with a lower total allowable catch will come greater population growth, and the "problem" of a super-healthy population will be exacerbated. Another option is to open up recreational lobster fisheries, but honestly, who wants to be a weekend warrior against these guys:

OK, so these guys look pretty nice,

but they're not all so... friendly

What do you think Maine should do? I suggest you go out, buy some lobster, and think it over. Let me know what you come up with!

Flamingos for Father's Day?

Yes, I realize it's weird to talk about flamingos on a crab blog. And I also realize it's weird to bring up pink flamingos specifically for Father's Day. But you know what? I'm weird, and so is my dad! (See here for video proof.)

You see, I grew up with 3 older sisters - that's 5 girls total (including my mom) in a house with 1 full bath! So my dad decided to call dibs on the basement bathroom for his own peace and quiet. To decorate this oh-so-manly half bath, he painted it pink and adorned it with a pink flamingo lawn ornament and pink flamingo plunger! (There may have been other flamingo-themed things in there, but those two stick out in my memory.)

pink flamingos on parade

(here they come, hippity hoppity)

Why flamingos? I don't know. BUT I do know why flamingos are pink: they eat BRINE SHRIMP (Artemia sp.)! Crustacean connection!!

salty fellows: Artemia salina

The thing in these little brine shrimp that makes flamingos so pink is astaxanthin, a carotenoid (pigment) that also turns crabs red and salmon flesh, well, salmon. Ben Daly figured that out when he was raising all those little baby red king crabs (Paralithodes camtschaticus) in Seward, AK: hatchery-reared red king crabs weren't as red as wild-caught kings, but diets supplemented with astaxanthin changed their carapace hues, and increased their survival! And increased survival is always a good goal for your kids hatchlings, right dads?

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Faster than a speeding bullet!

I think we all know by now just how awesome mantis shrimp are when it comes to their incredible eyes, their yearly monogamy (see here), and their incredible strength with their modified claws:

Here are some new statistics on the peacock mantis shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus) from David Kisailus' lab at Univeristy of California, Riverside to rock your world:

• the mantis shrimp's fist can move up to 72 km/hr (That's faster than your average cat, and about the same speed as an African wild dog. But remember, a mantis shrimp is underwater!)

it's a tie!

• the fist reaches the above speed by accelerating faster than a .22-calibre bullet

(any Arrested Development fans out there?)

• moving that quickly, the water around a mantis shrimp's fist BOILS! Really!!

cavitation bubbles forming
(the arrows point to 'em in panels E, F, and G)

EXTREME!

Mind, consider yourself blown!

(David Kisailus is hoping to mimic the strength of mantis shrimps' fists to produce body armour that could withstand 50,000 bullets!  Thanks, Miranda, for the mantis facts!)

The sea otter debate

Dungeness crabs are important animals for fishermen up here in southeast Alaska. However, there is increasing concern that fishermen are going to have to compete more and more with another predator: the sea otter! Students at UAF are looking into this relationship between predators and their prey (mentioned briefly here), and had an opportunity to make a short film about the potential conflict.

What do you think?