Courageous crab (and two not so brave).

The tide was low and the sun was shining. I went to the beach. There I met these three crabs.

Large red rock crab, Cancer productus. 

He was hiding, not moving, as far under a rock as he could jam himself. I touched his cheliped gently; he moved it a few millimetres. Alive, then. Watching me with one eye.

Mid-sized red rock crab.

This one saw me coming and ran away. Even though he was already well camouflaged with sand on his carapace and a piece of sea lettuce pasted to his back. Not taking any risks, though.

Tiny purple shore crab, Hemigrapsus nudus.

I never would have seen this little guy if he hadn't come up to challenge me. He held that pose while I approached, while I took his photo, while I walked away until I was out of sight. Valiant  little critter!

More intertidal finds tomorrow; it was a productive beach visit, and I'm still processing the photos.

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La marea estaba bien baja y hacía sol. Fui a la playa, y allí encontré estos tres cangrejos.

    1. Un cangrejo rojo de roca, Cancer productus. 

Este cangrejo grande estaba escondido, sin moverse, a lo más que podía introducirse bajo una piedra. Toqué levemente un quelípedo y lo arrimó unos cuantos milímetros. Vivía, entonces. Y me miraba con un solo ojo.

    2. Otro cangrejo rojo de roca, este de tamaño mediano.

Este cangrejo me vió venir y se echó a correr. Eso, aunque ya estaba bien protegido, con arena sobre el carapacio y una hoja de alga marina en el trasero como camuflaje. ¡No iba a correr ningún riesgo, de todas maneras!

    3. Un cangrejito costero morado, Hemigrapsus nudus.

Nunca habría visto este cangrejito si no hubiera salido para retarme. Mantuvo esa postura mientras me acercaba, mientras le sacaba la foto, y hasta que me había alejado tanto que no lo podía ver. ¡Criatura valiente!

Mañana subo más criaturas de la zona intermareal; era una visita muy productiva, y todavía estoy procesando las fotos.

Forgotten beasties

From the "hold" folder, a few beach critters:

Wosnesenski's isopod. I think I held this photo because I wanted to id the tentacly bit near the isopod's rear. I still don't know what it is.

Three snails. Shell road beach, September, 2018. Half the snails I see turn out to be hermit crabs; I think the one on the left may have a hermit in residence; see the tips of her toes.

Three crabs; red rock, green shore, and a hermit. I like the pie-crust look of the red rock crab's carapace. April, 2018

Unidentified polychaete, stretching out of its tube.

A thin slab of wood, riddled with teredo clam burrows. The white bits are remains of the clam's burrow lining.

And a couple more crabs

This one is a baby.

Red rock crab juvenile, Cancer productus

I pick up loosely closed clamshells, especially those loaded with barnacles. Almost every one is serving as shelter for young critters. This one held the crab, three small stars, and a scale worm. Look for the worm in the hinge, above, one of the stars in the background, below.

The poor crab didn't know how to deal with sunlight and a giant black eye staring at it. First he tried cowering, then ...

... the challenge. "I'm big and brave and I'll pinch you!"

"Or maybe not. If I roll over and fold up, maybe the giant won't see me."

All these poses took less than a minute. Then I closed the clamshell and put it back down under the eelgrass.

The stripy carapace will be discarded as he grows; as an adult, he will be mostly a dark red. The underside, however, will still have those red spots on white.

Most of the young crabs I've been seeing are the Dungeness crabs, Cancer magister.

Two-inch crab, running, under knee-deep water.

The two crabs are cousins, but the differences are fairly obvious. The Dungeness has a smoother carapace, rougher, toothed, pincer arms, and prominent teeth along the edge of the carapace. The Red Rock crab's carapace is bumpy, but his pincer arms are missing the teeth. The teeth on the edge of the carapace are wavy, and fluted like a pie crust.

The Dungeness gets quite a bit bigger; up to 11 inches across the top. The Red Rock will grow to 8 inches.

At every low tide this time of year, the crabbers are out with buckets and nets and crab traps, wading out waist-deep with the traps, or tramping through shallower water with long-stemmed nets. It's the big Dungeness that they're after; sometimes size is a disadvantage.

A hint of pink.

He's just a baby:

Red Rock crab, Cancer productus. Immature male. Stories Beach, Vancouver Island.

The pink pincer tips will be black when he grows up.

And the shell and legs will be a deep, crimson red.

Compare this little guy to the adult on Dave Ingram's blog.