Comments on: Spider crab molting

By: mikelipino

mikelipino — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gah, thanks for the heebie jeebies! The thought of all those still-squishy limbs slithering their way out of the old armor is making me feel a bit faint… That said, if the still squishy crab accidentally wandered into a deep fryer, I’d be all over it.

By: Quiche de Resistance

Quiche de Resistance — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I need a cigarette.

By: weatherman

weatherman — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Science can be educational and delicious!

By: rothstei

rothstei — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

What do you think it feels like? I’m imaging finally removing a scab, covering the entire body.

By: apoxia

apoxia — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Perhaps, and I’m thinking the new soft shell would be very sensitive to touch before it hardens.

By: muteboy

muteboy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@8, that’s exactly what I was thinking. It must feel like when you lost your baby teeth – kind of itchy-hurty

By: Gridwolf

Gridwolf — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Crab coming out.

By: Ugly Canuck

Ugly Canuck — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Dead man’s crab.

http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/2008/01/tgif_is_the_dead_mans_crab_the.php

Dead man’s curve.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukunx21UHCA

Aaaah, summertime!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDY4nR1IqCs

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

My reaction to this was a jaw-dropping HOLY CRAP! I was NOT expecting that! Amazing!

By: remi

remi — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Can someone explain to me how the mechanics of this works? It looks impossible!

Does the crab pulls his legs out first and store them somewhere in the old shell before pulling his body out? I ask because, it looks as if the legs are already loose by the time the body is out.

This is NOT like how I get out of my shirt. I get my body out and then pull each arm out separately. However, I remember seeing kids who pull both arms out and then push the shirt over their head, which looks like how this crab is doing it. Except I don’t understand where he puts his legs inside the shell!

By: Sekino

Sekino — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Crab nudity!! NSFW!

By: JoshP

JoshP — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

the horror… @13 i bet there’s some secretion involved. yug, i like my bugs better with rice.

By: Wordguy

Wordguy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

That’s awesome. I wonder how long the shell stays soft?

It looks like one leg got stuck on the way out. At about 1:06 you can see a little outside help via a stick poking at the leg in the old shell.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I ran into a freshly molted lobster once in the shallows in New England. It was quite, quite gelatinous. Horrifyingly, nightmarishly gelatinous.

By: Ted8305

Ted8305 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

mmmm… softshell crab…

By: imnothere

imnothere — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

hmmm…sorry, i was distracted by the creepy radula action of the mollusks.

By: Alan

Alan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I kinda expected the little crabs to swarm the big crab when it finally molted.

By: Jerril

Jerril — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

If it helps any, watch the limb motion. When it stops filter feeding with the first pair of limbs (And walking around on the other eight) and settles down, I’d say that’s when it’s started “shrugging” out of the legs. After that, the twitching is just secondary movement caused by pulling it’s legs out of the carapace’s legs.

By: optuser

optuser — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Good lord. I was just expecting the top to pop off. WOW.

By: The Hamster King

The Hamster King — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Now ZOIDBERG is the popular one!

By: Ugly Canuck

Ugly Canuck — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It kind of just withdraws from the old carapace, doesn’t it?

By: Phlip

Phlip — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The twitching and fidgeting before the molt is PMS – Pre-Molt Syndrome. No lie.

By: dw_funk

dw_funk — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Oh, spider crab. You look so horrifying, but you’re so delicious.

By: remi

remi — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks for the replies.
Something interesting seems to happen between 50s and 59s marks. If you look at his 3rd left leg and 4th right leg (counting from the bottom), you see something white stick out of the front and then retreat back in. I wonder if that’s just him squishing around and pulling his legs in…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ah, the precious aliens among us!

By: stegodon

stegodon — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

watching this made me feel uncomfortably claustrophobic, like taking off a ski jacket while riding in a prius

By: nerak

nerak — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

sweet jumpin jesus. that’s got to be one of the creepiest things i’ve ever seen.

now, get in my belly.

By: Gilbert Wham

Gilbert Wham — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Not horrifyingly, nightmarishly delicious? I’m just imagining a soft-shelled, flash-fried lobster-claw, with an orange, white wine ginger & coriander sauce over the top…

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’m with imnothere, the little skittery things and the tonguing mollusks were fabulous.