(blue) CRAB

day 1 - intro

- read a story (pdf): http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/family_home/family/character_education/character_critters/read_a_story/Cindy+the+Citizen+Crab.htm

- craft: http://familycrafts.about.com/od/eggcartoncrafts/ss/eggcartcrab.htm

day 2 - animal -

what do they eat? they are omnivores (meaning they eat plants and animals). they eat seaweed, snail, mussels, fish and plants. They will hide under the sand to attack unsuspecting animals to eat them. a crabs teeth are in it's stomach.

do other animals try to eat them? crabs are eaten by people, sharks, eels, bass, other blue crabs, trout, catfish, stingrays, herons, raccoons, turtles, and ducks.

what is their skin like? They have a very hard shell that has 8 sharps points on the back. They are invertebrates, meaning they don't have bones. the shell acts as their bones. it's called an exoskeleton. (pictures of molting: http://www.serc.si.edu/education/resources/bluecrab/molting.aspx)

what color are they? olive, brown, red, and shades of blue
hatch or born? hatched. they are carried in her belly until the eggs hatch. they are then called larvae. they are .25 mm long.

what are they like as babies? They do not look like their parents. They molt. Which means that they shed their shell and grow a new bigger one. everytime they molt, they look more and more like a grown up crab.

can they be a pet?

what size are they? they are about 4 inches long and 9 inches wide and weigh 1 to 2 lbs.

other description? if a crabs looses it's claw, it grows back. They are decapods. That means they have 10 legs. their eyes are on antennas.

do boy and girls look different? They have different shapes aprons on their stomachs. The girl crab carried her eggs in her apron. a male molt over and over. a female only molts 21 times in a lifetime. females have red spots on the tips of her claws. boys are called "jimmy" and girls are called "sally".

habits? they walk sideways. they have 10 legs. 2 are claws, 2 are paddles to help swim and the rest are for walking.

day 3 - habitat -

land, air, sea? the live in the sea and are excellent swimmers.
what is their habitat like? they like water that is brackish (salt water and fresh water mixed). they like warm water (over 60*). if the water gets too cold, they will bury themselves in the sand to warm up.

what other (of the same) animals live around them? lots of crabs live and migrate together. (migration path: http://www.serc.si.edu/education/resources/bluecrab/migration.aspx)

What other (different) animals live around them? they live among lots of sea life.

where do they live on the map/globe? along the eastern coast of North and South America

what is that place like? the water is warm. if the water gets too cold, they will migrate to a warmer place.


resources:
http://www.howard.k12.md.us/res/crabs/default.html
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/blue-crab.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/70184/blue-crab
http://www.kidskonnect.com/subject-index/13-animals/24-crabs.html
http://www.bluecrab.info/lifecycle.html
http://www.edc.uri.edu/restoration/html/gallery/invert/bluec.htm
http://www.serc.si.edu/education/resources/bluecrab/migration.aspx