Crabbing Mystery

[lnagao]

Before this weekend I have been crabbing 3 times in Valentine Creek which empties into the Severn around Cedar Point. I use 10 traps, a conoe and hadlines from a dock. I haven't done great but have gotten at least a dozen/2 dozen each outing the last couple weeks. This weekend I crabbed Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon. I caught a whopping 2 crabs. I noticed that my chicken necks had no sign of crab activity at all. Even had crab pots off the deck and not a single crab. What happened to cause the crabs to vanish? I have only been crabbing since last year but have never experienced this sort of drop off. Is this normal? I noticed that the crabbing had been getting progressivley better each time I went out this year and expected it to be great this past weekend. What's up?

[Bunkerboz]

might be the full moon..it may have caused the to go up in th shallows/grass to shed...
but i'm no expert to say the least... JMHO

[Crabslayer]

Things have been slow the past couple of days due to Jimmies doubling up with the rank females. They had other things on their minds instead of eating. [grin]

[rdefrank]

Molting and the Full Moon

"While I do not have hard data to support the contention that there is increased shedding on or around a full moon, from personal observations of the commercial soft crab production industry, there is an increase in peelers and soft crabs several days before and after a full moon" says Mike Oesterling of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

There are several possible explanations for this phenomenon. One explanation might be that during a full (and new moon) the tides are unusually high or low (called "spring" tides). This is because twice a month the moon and sun are in line with the Earth and therefore, their combined gravitational pull is greater. During a spring tide, more shoreline grasses are submerged (or exposed) which would provide a larger area of cover and protection for crabs to molt. Or, perhaps it's because crabs are able to exploit expanding feeding grounds or have more time for feeding in the shallows. Mr. Oesterling notes that "in the summer months, food availability has a major affect on shedding activity. If a crab does not satisfy the physiological need to shed (increased muscle tissue, body cavity 'cramping', etc.), it will not enter the molting cycle. In other words, if it doesn't get adequate nutrition it's not going to grow."

Jennifer Martin of the University of Connecticut's Department of Ecology and Evolution says "In the lab I had 2,000 crabs that I was rearing and a full moon definitely meant most of them were molting. Why? I am not sure." This would seem to indicate that the increased gravitational pull during a full moon somehow directly influences the crab since food availability and cover would not be factors in a controlled laboratory environment.
[Source: http://www.blue-crab.org/fullmoon.htm ]