I saw my first Mole Crab it was in a recent tide line on the beach mixed in with many varieties of shells,including some large Northern Moon snails.
It was larger than I thought they would be.
A quick glance in Peterson,s Atlantic Shoreline field Guide said the larger of the two (the female)was 1".
I thought I might have had a new record!
Come to find out they measure it more like you would a lobster, from the front of the carapace to the end of the abdomen,this one was approx. 1 7/8" (total length).
What a tasty looking treat , I could just picture it being crushed in the back of a srtipers mouth before going down the hatch.
I'm sure there are ways to harvest them, but I was just wondering how common of a sight is it to see one on the beach.
I showed it to a friend that was with me, he had not heard of or seen one.
It,s funny the things we "miss" in a lifetime if you don't look or just happen upon them.
A couple of winters ago on a beach in Little Narragansett bay we found an eel like creature, that turned out to be Wrymouth washed up on the shore.
It had lost it's true olive-brown color, but was a rather bluish grey, much like that of a reversed eel skin that one would use on a plug, this one was only 4"-5" as they can get to be a foot or better.
On a warm spring morning not to many years ago on a gravel and grassy right of way to the Pawcatuck river I was fortunate to witness a turtle digging her nest in the warm sandy gravel, upon a closer look, this was a turtle different than I'd ever seen.
After a careful study of it's field marks, turns out
this turtle lives in estuaries and are fairly uncommon (they at one time made a great turtle soup).
She was a Diamondback Terrapin.
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