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So What’s An Adorable Kitten Got to Do With an Unstable Bluff and Mount St. Helens?

Fiddler crabs are strange little beasties. Males have what amounts to one giant claw, which can be as long as his body is wide, and one tiny T.

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPIc8s-V8fM

Fiddler crabs are strange little beasties. Males have what amounts to one giant claw, which can be as long as his body is wide, and one tiny T. rex arm that looks quite out of place on a crab.

Recently, a researcher wrote a blog post about why fiddler crabs have such an enormous claw on the ocean site I run for the Smithsonian. Some lobsters have one claw bigger than the other, but this is because they can regenerate a claw lost in a fight, which ends up smaller in comparison. For fiddlers, this is a matter of evolution: dually a weapon to fight off other males and an ornamental object to impress the ladies. (Read the details on the blog!)


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For the post, I edited my first video: fiddler crabs fighting to some pretty epic music. Watch it above!

Preview Image: John Christy, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Hannah Waters is a science writer fascinated by the natural world, the history of its study, and the way people think about nature. On top of science blogging, she runs the Smithsonian's Ocean Portal, a marine biology education website, and is science editor for Ladybits. Hannah is a child of the internet, who coded HTML frames on her Backstreet Boys fanpage when she was in middle school. Aptly, she rose to professional science writing through blogging (originally on Wordpress) and tweeting profusely. She's written for The Scientist, Nature Medicine, Smithsonian.com, and others. Before turning to full-time writing, Hannah wanted to be an oceanographer or a classicist, studying Biology and Latin at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. She's done ecological research on marine food webs, shorebird conservation, tropical ecology and grassland ecosystems. She worked as a lab technician at the University of Pennsylvania studying molecular biology and the epigenetics of aging. And, for a summer, she manned a microphone and a drink shaker on a tour boat off the coast of Maine, pointing out wildlife and spouting facts over a loudspeaker while serving drinks. Email her compliments, complaints and tips at culturingscience at gmail dot com.

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