Science Crabs Part 2

Ladies and gents, I present to you the second image in my Science Crabs series. Today's subject is a white-claw with a knack for meter sticks.

When I asked him, he said he was trying very hard to measure his armspan. Unfortunately, he can't read.

 

 

 

 

On a more serious note, I had some cool finds today. First off, I found an oyster cluster.

Note the mussel on the bottom left (upper right is oysters). Mussels naturally occur throughout the marsh, but these guys seem to have taken one for an anchoring point.

These are an odd sight in the marsh beyond the creeks, where they are abundant. These guys were close to a very small tributary, likely their source. Weird though.

Secondly, some very dry, drought-like marsh.

This stuff is bad news because it's one corner of the die-off trifecta. When drought stresses plants, they become more vulnerable to snail grazing and subsequent fungal infection, which is often lethal and clears out strips of the marsh. I don't think it's bad enough here - this is a path, actually - but the marsh is usually much, much wetter. Muddy like quicksand.