Sanibel Sea School summer camp focuses on claws
Decapod, or 10-legged crustaceans, were the area of focus from June 13-17 during the Sanibel Sea School’s Island Skills Summer Camp at its flagship campus on Sanibel.
Two of those 10 appendages are typically claws, or chelae, which are modified for different uses dependent on the species. Claws are used for feeding, defense, communication, mate attraction, burrowing and more. After repeated observations of crabs using their claws in the field, campers learned how to make educated guesses about diet, defense strategies and behavior.
Spider crabs were the week’s celebrity creature, with the most effort focused on finding them. Two commonly found local species are the portly spider crab and the longnose spider crab. Using nets and snorkels, campers were also able to find stone crabs, hermit crabs and multiple species of swimming crabs. A mud walk through the mangroves provided the perfect setting to observe fiddler crabs and mangrove tree crabs.
“The highlight of this week was definitely the mud walk,” marine science educator Brianna Machuga said. “We were able to observe male fiddler crabs waving their oversized claw to attract mates. Campers were definitely pushed out of their comfort zones in knee-deep mud, but we ended the walk with a nice dip into the bay to clean off.”
In addition to exploring Sanibel’s diverse habitats in search of crustaceans, counselors led campers through games and hands-on activities. In one experiment, campers used tweezers, claw crackers, hair clips, chopsticks and pipe cleaners to try to pick up different “prey” items like gummies, sand, cotton balls and shells.
Each tool represented a different claw shape from species like spider crabs, stone crabs, swimming crabs and mole crabs, while the prey items represented fish plankton, algae, bivalves and gastropods. Campers determined what the likely prey of each crab was based on the success of each “claw.”
Part of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation family, the Sanibel Sea School’s mission is to improve the ocean’s future, one person at a time. For more information, visit sanibelseaschool.org.