Crabbing!



A quick tutorial to the interns by Hi'ilei



Being the end of the month, Hi'ilei showed us another from of fishing. This month we went crabbing! To catch the crabs we used a simple method by bating simple circle nets and setting them and checking them later.

This Tuesday we were actually crabbing for certain crabs, native crabs named the Moala and Kuahonu. We learned that out in the Bay there population is decreasing because of all the competition for resources. Here in the fishpond where it is a bit more sheltered, the populations of these two species have a better chance of growing populations.

  

A stack of nets ready for the water!



Anu and Nikki setting the traps in the pond



Doing this weekly, Hi'ilei wants to try to track the population growth of these two species in the pond. Seeing if there are certain times of the year where the populations flux. The Moala is a docile crab with long vibrant purple pincher's. The Kuahonu is named after the honu because the spots on its carapace resemble the shell of a honu.





 This is a Moala flipped over and you can see his purple pincers. We can also tell it is a male by recognizing the "V" on the bottom of the crabs body. A female will have a "U" shape instead.

To the right is the Kuahonu and on the bottom part of the carapace we see the spots that the crab is named for.

There are also crabs that are in the pond that are non-native. One of those crabs are the Samoan crabs, these were introduced here to the Islands.  They can grow to a large size and be a fierce competitor when it comes to foraging for food. This is a Samoan crab that was caught in one of the traps next to a moala.