Spider Crabs

Spider Crab

Spider Crabs Libinia emarginata are scavengers. Although they are fearsome-looking, they are actually slow-moving, and their usual claws-out threat display is mostly bluff. Spider Crabs have relatively small round bodies (to 4"), long legs, and rather weak claws. They are found subtidally to at least 160 ft, on any type of bottom, and are very common in rivers and inlets. They often cover themselves with detritus for camouflage, and can also burrow in soft sediments.

A related species is used for food in Europe. The only thing more unattractive than a Spider Crab is two of them mating.

Spider Crab
A large adult Spider Crab
Spider Crab
Looks like one of those old Japanese monster movies, doesn't it?
Spider Crab
A baby Spider Crab, decorated with algae that it has stuck to itself for camouflage
Spider Crab
A small specimen trailing a veil of algae
Spider Crab
I'm not sure what these two spider crabs were doing, and I'm sure I don't want to know !
Herb Segars Photography

Eelgrass

Zostera marina

Size: to 36"

Seagrass: Nature's Nursery

Seagrasses are a group of approximately 50 species of vascular plants that complete their entire life cycle fully submerged in the marine environment. The most common and ecologically important seagrasses in New Jersey are eelgrass ( Zostera marina ) and widgeon grass ( Ruppia maritima ). Widgeon grass, however, is actually a fresh/brackish water plant with extreme salinity tolerance and is therefore sometimes not classified as a "true" marine seagrass.

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