Friday, July 09, 2021

Old suit, new suit

 A few months ago a small kelp crab hitchhiked a ride home hidden in a clump of rockweed. He is thriving in my tank, and has molted three times already. I caught him in the process this time, although he was as well hidden as he could be, with glass walls all around. Once he was done with his old carapace and the hermits had cleaned it, I fished it out of the tank.

The carapace, out of water.

With a ruler. It measured under 3 cm.

Crabs molt when their outer structure is too small for the growing critter inside. They must feel squeezed, like when you're trying to cram yourself into your teen-aged jeans. As soon as they're free, they expand; legs, carapace, antennae, eyes and all.

Here's the newly-liberated crab:

He's not too happy, because I just stole the piece of red alga he was hiding behind.

With a ruler against the tank wall. And a limpet.

I later managed to get the ruler down into the tank beside the crab. His carapace now measures just a tad under 4 cm. long. As an adult, he can get to 9 cm. across the carapace. That's across, not lengthwise, as I have measured him, so about 3 times his present size.

While we're at it, here are a couple of lines of hooks over the head. Is this what he hooks his hats on?

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Hace algunos meses, un cangrejo kelp llegó a mi acuario, escondido en un ramo de algas "Fucus distichus". Le gusta la vida en mi tanque, y hasta el presente, ha mudado tres veces. En esta muda, lo pude observar, aunque hizo lo posible para esconderse, algo difícil en un tanque con cuatro paredes de vidrio. Cuando había terminado con su caparazón viejo, lo saqué del agua para examinarlo.

Primera foto: el caparazón.
Segunda: mide un poco menos de 3 cm. de largo.

Los cangrejos mudan cuando su estructura exterior es demasiado restringido para el animal en desarrollo adentro. Se han de sentir apretados, como cuando nosotras nos tratamos de meter dentro de nuestros jeans de nuestra adolescencia. Los cangrejos, en cuanto se sienten libres, se dilatan; las patas, el caparazón, las antenas, los ojos: todo.

Tercera foto: el cangrejo recién mudado. Un tanto enfadado conmigo porque le quité la hoja de alga roja tras de la cual se estaba escondiendo.

Cuarta foto: en el tanque, con una regla junto a la pared afuera. Y una lapa en la pared, en el interior.

Más tarde pude meter la regla dentro del tanque y al lado del cangrejo. Su caparazón ahora mide casi 4 cm. de largo. Como adulto, puede llegar a medir hasta 9 cm, cruzando el caparazón en el punto más ancho. (Esto es a lo horizontal, mientras yo lo he medido verticalmente.) Si llega a esa medida, sería casi tres veces lo que ahora tiene.

Cuarta foto: mientras tenía el caparazón a mano, me fijé en los ganchitos en la parte superior a la cabeza. ¿Serían estos los ganchitos en donde fija sus sombreros?



1 comment:

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