Blue Crabs on Journey of Survival
“Deep under the cold, dark waters of
the Chesapeake Bay, the answer to whether the
struggling blue crab population can survive lies buried in the mud.
Tens of millions of female crabs are
scattered across the floor of the lower bay in southern Virginia,
where the estuary pours into the Atlantic Ocean,
waiting out winter for one of the most important events of their short lives.
When spring comes, they will inch closer to the ocean with billions of eggs…
As females go, so go blue crabs.
Last year, scientists estimated that there were only 68.5 million females old
enough to spawn…
Blue crabs, Maryland’s state crustacean & a symbol
of pride for the region…are more threatened now than at any time since
biologists started recording their numbers in the late 1940s…
The total number of males, females,
& juveniles was a mere 297 million last year…
Adult male crabs are brawny, but the
weight of maintaining the habitat falls on females. They do the heavy lifting,
by far, in a yearly trek to replenish the species.
After they mate from May to early
October, nature beckons them to the mouth of the bay. Depending on where they
depart in the estuary, pregnant females known as sooks migrate as far as 241
kilometres to get a spot in the lower bay near the salty Atlantic.
Their offspring have a higher rate of survival in waters with elevated levels
of salinity.
Walking on 8 skinny legs &
swimming with 2 tiny flippers, the perilous trip takes the entire fall…
Females burrow in mud & stay
almost perfectly still in winter to conserve energy at a time when food-
oysters, clams, mussels, snails, insects, worms, & some fish- is scarce.
After the thaw, they move closer to where the bay’s fresh water meets the salty
Atlantic.
Each female lays between 750,000
& 3 million eggs starting in late April…”
Darryl
Fears
WASHINGTON POST
The
Gazette, Montreal
Feb.
14/2015
Cute Critter Pic
Weekly Chuckle
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