European Green Crabs

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Another perfect day to be out with Alyssa Novak and her Live Blue Ambassadors!!!

Today young marine ecologists were measuring Green Crabs, documenting their gender and size. Carcinus Maenas have five spines behind the eyes along both sides of the shell. Even though they are called green crabs, they can range in color from yellows to oranges depending on their molt cycle.

In Conomo Point, in Essex Massachusetts the green crabs are being trapped and counted, and recycled into fertilizers as a part of population control near the eelgrass restoration area. These invasive green crabs are believed to eat anything from clams, snails, mussels, crabs, barnacles, dog whelks and cockles (Cohen et al. 1995). They are also believed to cause disturbances to the sediment around the roots of eelgrass and decrease the success rates of seagrass restoration.

 

I was very impressed with the New England Aquarium’s Live Blue Ambassadors. They were very efficient in sorting trough hundreds of green crabs with their amazing team work. I loved how they were excited about showing me female and male crabs.

 

Bait is put into the traps to lure the green crabs in.

 

Here is a female Green Crab with at least 160,000 eggs spawning from her abdomen. Unbelievable amounts of green crabs with no natural predators in our shores.

 

 

Check out Alyssa Novak’s short interview here !

 

Live Blue Ambassadors

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