Crabs Caught in the Summer of 2013

This is a bar graph of the crabs that we have caught during tutoring.  Most of the crabs that we caught were mole crabs.  We caught them all in one day.  We also caught a lot of green crabs and asian shore crabs.  We caught zero fiddler crabs and only one rock crab.  

Crabbing at Menemsha

On Tuesday Amanda, my Mom, Matt, and I went to Menemsha to go crabbing.

This is a spider crab.  

In this picture, I am under the dock behind the ice cream shop.  

These are two green crabs

This is a black-fingered mud crab. 

Here is Grey sticking his hands in the rocks.  He is one brave boy.

In this picture we are measuring crabs.

I caught twenty-one crabs.  Most crabs I caught were one inch.  The least amount were three inches.

At Menemsha a big green fishing boat pulled up.  It had rays and flounders.  The rays were for lobster bait.

It was fun to have my Mom there.  

On Tuesday my friends and I also went boogie boarding at Stonewall Beach.  

Moon Snail Shell

Moon snails make a sand collar and lay their eggs into it.  It makes the sand collar with sand and her mucus.   

http://buzzmarinelife.blogspot.com/2011/06/sand-collar-seasonor-more-tiny-stuff-to.html

During the day, Moon snails are under the sand.  They use their foot to move.  They suck water in it and squirt it out to move.  

Moon snails also use their foot to eat. 

Watch this video to see a moon snail eat a soldier crab.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qlxmKghiHI

This is a picture of a moon snail's shell.  I found tons of these moon shells at Stonewall Beach.

This is a chart of the sizes of the moon shells that we found.  

Clamming

On Tuesday I went clamming at Lake Tashmoo.  We kayaked and paddle boarded to the place where we were going to go clamming.  When you are going to go clamming you need to nudge your feet into the sand under the water.  If you feel something it is probably a quahog clam.  Before you bring them home, you have to put them through a one inch gauge because it is illegal to take them if they are smaller than one inch.  We caught 178 clams!  We also caught some black fingered mud crabs and spider crabs.  What an exciting day. 

This is me holding a spider crab and some quahog clams.

These are all the quahog clams that we found.

This is me holding a black-finger mud crab.  I found this black-fingered mud crab in the seaweed on a rock at the boat launch.  

This is bar graph of people's guesses of the number of clams we caught.  The last one is the total amount of the clams.  Steve was the closest.  

Quahog clams have three different names depending on their size.  The smallest ones are called littlenecks, the medium ones are called cherrystones, and the big ones are called chowders.  This bar graph shows how many clams we had of each size.  

Number of Legs

This is a graph of the number of legs some sea creatures have.

We did not count the front claws of the green crab or the lobster because we read that they have eight walking legs and two pinching claws.  If we would have, they would have ten legs just like the horseshoe crab.  The moon jelly has the least legs.  The horseshoe crab has the most legs.  

Catching Crabs at Menemsha Beach

On Monday Amanda and I went hunting for crabs.  We went hunting for crabs at Menemsha Beach by the dock and rock pier.  Crabs like to hide in different places.  Spider crabs like to hide in the seaweed and algae on wood.  The green crabs hide in the seaweed or they hide under rocks.  Lady crabs like to bury themselves under the sand.  I used a net and my hands to catch all of the crabs.  Once I caught the crabs, I put them in a bucket and Amanda wrote down what I caught.  First we saw two little green crabs between the dock and the pier.  Then I went out really far and saw the lady crab's large claws, and I swooped them up with my net.  While Amanda was getting the bucket, I dug a hole in the sand and put the crabs in it so they couldn't get away.  Amanda thought the lady crab got away, but he just buried himself in the sand. I caught twelve crabs.  I caught four small green crabs, two medium-sized green crabs, four large lady crabs, and two small hermit crabs.  It was really, really fun!

This is a bar graph of the crabs I caught.

This is a lady crab that I am holding.

In this picture, I am holding a female crab with her baby.  I caught them under the dock in a corner.

On the other side of the rock pier there are lady crabs that bury in the sand.  On this side where I am standing there are spider crabs, rock crabs, and green crabs.