Watch Those Claws!

  The other day while on the pier, my cousin called my attention to two blue crabs that were clinging to an old bait barrel just below the water. The large male crab had a much smaller female in his clutches as they mated.  She obviously had just shed and was still in the "paper shell" stage.  This is when most of the mating occurs with the huge male protecting the tiny female as her shell hardens.  With his gigantic claws waving about threateningly, not too many predators are going to take a chance at a crab dinner.  Even other crabs (who will cannibalize the another crab during the soft shell stage), stay far away.  They do not want to do battle with a dominant male.

  This pair are pushing the season a bit as crabs usually mate anywhere from May to October.  Here it was nigh on November.  The warm winters we have here on the Bayou sometimes confuses the critters, I suppose. Soon though, the crabs will move to deeper water and vacate the shallows.  There the waters are warmer and even if Mama Crab hatches her eggs, the little ones should fair well.  

  It is always a good sign when wildlife reproduces.  Seeing the crabs made me think that the Bay's water must be relatively clear of pollutants. Most of the sea life will head out to the Gulf of Mexico if the water in the bays and bayous is not in a healthy state.  The sighting of the crabs gives me hope that perhaps things are going right with my little Bayou.