Hi fellow Hiveians,
Today I'm here with something we didn't see before! A crab that was molting!
If you've stopped by my blog in the past summer or two you'll probably have seen one or two, or more posts about us and our tidepool and crab adventures that we partake in over the course of the summer. We've tried to do it earlier in the year like around March or April but there's sadly nothing out in those early months lol so summertime it is!
One of the things that we haven't seen before which ended up being pretty awesome to see, was a crab in the process of molting!
Being able to incorporate these small lessons like this into our sons overall education, even though it's not formal "homeschool" type stuff is really fun. We are able to talk about the process of molting, or shedding the old shell and growing a new one, and how that works for the crabs and why they do it. Our son was certainly fascinated by it all! Thankfully he was very inquisitive and kind to the little critter.
I have only seen molting on things like snakes or in documentaries and stuff where fancy people go around and show us what happens. It was pretty cool to see it for our own eyes! Better still, our son is the one who found the molting crab so that was also something that made me happy. When he's able to find these things instead of me, it makes me feel better. He loves being able to say he's the one that did or found something. I don't let him have all the glory all the time but I do try to let him have the majority of it to build the little tackers confidence.
I did take the cake for the biggest crab of the day though! This was my find here, thing was pretty big!
If you're wondering why I am holding him upside down, it keeps them calmer for some reason I've learned. I don't necessarily mind picking them up but I don't enjoy getting pinched! So if I can make them calm with something as easy as just holding them upside down, I'm all for it. It also allows me to snag a decent picture, albeit a little odd angle.
This guy was obviously a brawler, missing his main claw on the right side there. Some of them are really intense in their fights!
It was pretty wild to see the molting crab though. Lots of parts of the thing were molting like the claws here as well as the shell! I think I read that they also eat the molted shell as a way to have food but as well recycle the resources that it took their little bodies to produce the new shell.
This was certainly a heck of a find and I'm glad that I was able to document it a little bit and snag some pictures for everyone to check it out!
Connect with me!
Do you want to get paid, in crypto, for searching the internet? Try using and signing up for Presearch to earn some great crypto! I've currently got 2,720 PRE tokens, with a market value of $380.27. It doesn't sound like a lot but when you search using sites like Google you get paid $0! Join Presearch to break Google's stranglehold on the internet searches. If you'd like to sign up, use my referral link below and spread the word!
https://www.presearch.org/signup?rid=513043
