Twist of Lemon

Crabs, for some reason, are animals that have always fascinated me. It being the holiday season I thought it would be interesting to look at the crab migration across Christmas Island. There are fourteen different species of terrestrial crabs on Christmas Island, but the red crab is the most numerous. Every year around November the crabs migrate to the ocean to mate. Then they migrate back. Then the young crabs migrate to the interior of the island. Here is a link to the life cycle. Here is a video.

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Another interesting type of crab on the island is the coconut, or robber, crab. These things are huge, up to four feet long. Here is another video.

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Unfortunately, this is yet another ecosystem being damaged by an invasive species, the Yellow Crazy Ant.

This week’s organism is yeast. Think of all the products we wouldn’t have without yeast. No bread, no beer, no wine, no stuffed shirts telling you what wine to buy. The food industry uses yeast extracts to add the flavor component Umami to foods. The genetics of yeast has also been extensively studied and yeasts may someday be used in remediation projects.

This week’s organism is the Vampire Squid.

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