Green Crab Research

Protocol in Focus: Why do we measure native crabs, too?

June 18, 2024

Why Measure Native Species?

When it comes to interactions between crabs, whether of the same species or of differing species, size matters. When crabs run into each other out on tide flats, in lagoons, or channels, they might compete for food or shelter, or they may actually try to prey on each other. In these encounters, the general rule of #CrabLife is that bigger crabs win over smaller crabs. So knowing the size of not only green ...

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Protocol in Focus: Why do we measure European green crabs?

November 17, 2023

We are Crab Team after all, so it’s perhaps no surprise that we are not shy about getting up to our elbows in details about the crabs we catch. But what can we actually learn from looking at size data of crabs? What makes handling all the angry pinchers worthwhile? 

We’re covering this rich topic in two issues of Protocol in Focus. This time, we’ll shed light on what we can ...

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Environmental DNA (Part 4): The Vashon Island Mystery

September 26, 2022

This is the fourth and final in a series of posts on a Crab Team project to develop environmental DNA (eDNA) for use in early detection and management of European green crab. Links to the previous posts are found in the text below.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) has recently gained attention as a potential early detection and monitoring tool for green crab, thanks in part to work done by Abby Keller ...

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Crab Team at the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

May 31, 2022

The second all-virtual Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (April 26-28) offered everyone with an interest or involvement in the inland waters shared by Washington and British Columbia the chance to connect over a huge range of topics, impacts of last summer’s heat dome, southern resident killer whale status, environmental justice, and of course, our favorite topic – European green crabs. There was a lot on the conference schedule related to green crab, and we wanted to share snapshots ...

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Environmental DNA (Part 2): A Cautionary Carp Tale

March 3, 2022

This is the second in a series of posts sharing new research on the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) in detection of green crabs. For our introduction to eDNA, check out the previous post.

As a detection tool, the process of sampling eDNA is relatively simple, but interpreting results can actually be more complicated than you might expect. While the laboratory process and equipment might tell you – within some window of tolerance – whether green crab DNA ...

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Environmental DNA (Part 1): Green Crab Monitoring 2.0?

February 24, 2022

Early detection is one of the best ways to thwart an invasive species, but trying to find some of the first individuals to arrive in a new habitat is no easy task. WSG Crab Team built a monitoring network to meet this challenge: by using multiple search methods and finely tuning the search protocols for green crabs, we hope to be able to uncover evidence of green crabs even while they are still extremely rare. Early detection successes ...

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Where are the European Green Crab in the Salish Sea Coming From?

April 25, 2018

Finding a few isolated pockets of invasive European green crab in Washington’s Salish Sea over the past two years indicates the early stages of a possible range expansion. Certainly, it is the goal of WSG Crab Team and management to protect shorelines from the damage this crab has done in other parts of the world. In order to do that, it’s important not only to know where green crab are found – and to try to remove them ...

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Crab Team Takes Willapa Bay by Storm!

November 3, 2016 

This series of three posts was originally written in August, but was pre-empted by the news of European green crab captures on San Juan Island and in Padilla Bay. Better late than never, here are our field notes on green crab trapping in Willapa Bay during August of this year. Of course, reading back on it after spending September in the mud, our previous eagerness to get in the field now seems…charming.

We staff members of the Crab Team couldn’t take ...

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