Crab Wrangling

Today was likely the chillest day I've had on the island so far. Literally all we did was wander out into the marsh and think more, make some more observations, and get a lesson on proper crab handling; the afternoon was a minor bit of cleanup for a past experiment followed by massive chill time with movies and Nanny Goat Beach (yes, that's the real name).

Because I have no pictures of the actual wrangling or work or movies, gonna just toss up some unrelated Nanny Goat shots.

But back to wrangling. This is by far the most bizarrely entertaining aspect of the marshes. Essentially, you find a burrow that looks like it'd house a mud crab and shove a PVC pipe into the marsh beside the burrow. This usually causes some of the water in the burrow to surge out and usually spooks the crab out in the process. Then, you quickly swipe the crab away from the burrow to prevent escape, and then one of two things happens.

The crab comes quietly, or you have to deal with an angry devil of a crab with both claws skyward, at you. Picking the crab itself up requires dodging claws and either grabbing them by the outside of their claws, holding them inward to immobilize the bugger, or grabbing them directly by the arms themselves. Either result is challenging. I had a white claw grab me full on by my fingernail (along it, not on the edge) today and pinch hard. I wish I had pictures of this process. The end result is an immobile crab that can then be measured (although this requires tricky maneuvering), examined to determine gender, or used for experiments. Or all three.

It is a rewarding process, though, and quite fun.

As I said earlier, though, the afternoon was mostly just the tiniest bit of mess cleanup from a past experiment. Being a field experiment, though, breaking it down means contending with mud, and flashing, a commonly used material for cages that's basically aluminum sheets used to box things in, is the worst thing ever to work with. The edges are extremely sharp, and lugging it across the marsh is taxing. Still managed to get a bit done, though.

Nanny Goat was a nice break in the evening. We got there just in time for sunset (which unfortunately wasn't out over the ocean, this being the Atlantic and facing east and whatnot) but was still really cool and chill. There was a storm coming in over the mainland that was booming in the distance, and the moon was stunning. This island is a truly beautiful place. I'm really digging the camaraderie too - my roommates and postdoc adviser have proven invaluable at both bouncing research ideas off and just generally goofing off with. The latter half of that has been awesome because I think I may be closing in on a plausible, cool research project, to be detailed in a later post. 

It's been great so far, though, and it's a fun group to be a part of. And it's only day 3. Crazy!