Love is in the Touch Tank

We still seem to believe that two of out Atlantic Rock crabs are mating!! This is a longer process than we had originally thought until we did a little bit of research on it.

Mating between hard shell males and soft shell female crabs:
As the time for mating approaches the male carries the female in a belly-to-belly embrace. This lasts for up to seven days! On the final day the female will struggle to escape when the male finally releases her. The female will then molt her shell as the male inserts/ releases his sperm. After the molting process is accomplished the male then once again carries the female around in the belly-to-belly position to protect her new vulnerable soft shell. The sperm are stored internally within the female until the eggs are extruded and fertilization takes place. Anywhere from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 eggs can be carried on the females abdomen until they hatch as larvae.

Here is what we will hope to see sometime in the tank before summer is over, a rock crab carrying her eggs:




Citation: Davis, Lynn M. Marine and Freshwater Products Handbook. Lancester, Pennsylvania: Techomic Publishing Company Inc., 2000. 173. Print.