At this time of year the crustaceans are shedding their hard shells and growing new ones - it's the only way they have of getting bigger - in a process called ecdysis. While they're doing this, they're soft, and very vulnerable. This picture shows a soft crab with its old shell....
....and here's a soft lobster with its discarded shell.
This is a bad time of year for our two local creel fishermen as they can't land soft crabs, lobsters and prawns - which is one good reason why both Justin Cameron and Alasdair MacLachlan have both recently had their boats out of the water to undergo annual servicing.
Many thanks to Kilchoan Early Bird for the photos.
No comments:
Post a Comment