Crab memories come alive!

Crab Starting Page

Crab Fun Facts! Image from School Discovery.com

Crab Memories! Supplied by Freefoto.com

Crab Multimedia! Image by Lamb, A. and Johnson, L. (2004) "Crab in tidepool" Naturescapes Starters http://www.tipt3.utoledo.edu/starters

I've had an interesting experience with crabs. In the summer of 2003, my extended family traveled to Panama City, Florida. I had never been to Florida before, but my aunt's family had. There was already a tradition established that I was quick to find out. At night, my three cousins would leave the beach house, armed with buckets, flashlights, and butterfly nets. We would walk down the shoreline and look for tiny white crabs with the flashlights. The object was to run after them with the net and capture them so they couldn't get away. The challenge was to get the netted crab into the bucket without getting pinched. After the bucket was full of frightened fighting crabs, we'd rush back to the house to show my mom and aunts. They weren't as ready to collect crusteceans as we were. The next ceremony involved taking pictures of our crabby trophies in the bucket. Finally, we'd take them back outside and release them by the water. I'm sure they were thinking they had received a second chance at life.

The thumbnail you see below is a picture of one of my cousins. The last day that we caught crabs, we were brave enough to try picking them up. It was a mild form of scary that we could handle.

The only person in the group who did not have a picture taken with a crab right away was my youngest cousin. She eventually did it, but only with a dead crab. The wiggly ones were too much for her sensitivities that day.

Would you dare to hold a crab?

Web author: Emily Morris
Page creation date: September 14, 2005
Last revision: September 17, 2005
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