You may have noticed the healthy sea grass. There's not a lot of it that end of the harbour. Most of the crab area is being smothered with this algae gunk that Old Salt calls 'carpet' or 'shit'. It clogs up the outboard and fish and crabs can't live in it. The stuff moves through the water, on the march across the sea grass meadows of the harbour. So it is always nice finding clean, healthy patches of sea grass.
Yes, I can see the healthy green sea-grass - a ray of hope in all the destruction. I used to dive in the Swan River as part of my job as a boat crane driver, so I am familar with the 'gunk carpet'. Grey sludge, in amongst all the anti-fouling cleaned off the boats. The exposure I had to all of that will probably get me in the end.
What kind of Crabs? Are they the beautiful Blue Manna? I used to go crabbing in the Mandurah estuary lovely clear water and the pincers of the crabs snapping in the bottom of the tinnie caused havoc. I wonder if any fishermen have lost their footing and gone ass over the side because of those snappers? :)
Yes, the lovely blues but most of the crabs in the picture are females, so they are brown. It gets pretty funny in the boat sometimes, if I miss the ice and they go snapping around my feet. Funny for Old Salt.
Hey Sarah, you let those young and old female crabs go free now don't you?? Hey, why are male blue manna crabs blue?? I never knew that blue manna crabs (Portunus pelagicus) were brown and blue?! No one ever told me that before! Reading on some crab facts I read of some of their names i.e. "blue swimmer, bluey, brown mud crab, sand crab and sandy". See the male is called Bluey and the female called Sandy... Sandy is brown and Bluey is blue, obviously!
Some of the sandys are really sandy, depending on where they live, some of them out by the channel marker are quite the blonde! And there is no discrimination this time of the year. Later, when they start breeding, we throw the females back.
You may have noticed the healthy sea grass. There's not a lot of it that end of the harbour. Most of the crab area is being smothered with this algae gunk that Old Salt calls 'carpet' or 'shit'. It clogs up the outboard and fish and crabs can't live in it. The stuff moves through the water, on the march across the sea grass meadows of the harbour. So it is always nice finding clean, healthy patches of sea grass.
ReplyDeleteLovely, such beautiful days we are having.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can see the healthy green sea-grass - a ray of hope in all the destruction. I used to dive in the Swan River as part of my job as a boat crane driver, so I am familar with the 'gunk carpet'. Grey sludge, in amongst all the anti-fouling cleaned off the boats. The exposure I had to all of that will probably get me in the end.
What kind of Crabs? Are they the beautiful Blue Manna? I used to go crabbing in the Mandurah estuary lovely clear water and the pincers of the crabs snapping in the bottom of the tinnie caused havoc. I wonder if any fishermen have lost their footing and gone ass over the side because of those snappers? :)
ReplyDeleteYes, the lovely blues but most of the crabs in the picture are females, so they are brown. It gets pretty funny in the boat sometimes, if I miss the ice and they go snapping around my feet. Funny for Old Salt.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your photos...well done and thank you Sara toa.
ReplyDelete~L
Hey Sarah, you let those young and old female crabs go free now don't you?? Hey, why are male blue manna crabs blue?? I never knew that blue manna crabs (Portunus pelagicus) were brown and blue?! No one ever told me that before! Reading on some crab facts I read of some of their names i.e. "blue swimmer, bluey, brown mud crab, sand crab and sandy". See the male is called Bluey and the female called Sandy... Sandy is brown and Bluey is blue, obviously!
ReplyDeleteSome of the sandys are really sandy, depending on where they live, some of them out by the channel marker are quite the blonde! And there is no discrimination this time of the year. Later, when they start breeding, we throw the females back.
ReplyDelete