After a day of swimming and sunning at the beach, hungry diners can get crabby while waiting at a restaurant for their platters of fresh seafood, but rarely do they resort to fisticuffs or cannibalism. The same can't be said for the delectable blue crabs lying on those platters. The astonishing fact that survival of clams increases as density of crabs goes up was discovered by two North Carolina State University researchers, Drs. Donna and Tom Wolcott.
Blue crabs are extremely profitable.
Crabs' commercial value is one of many reasons for studying them. Another reason is that crabs are very important players in estuarine ecosystems. Estuaries are tough places to live, but those species, like blue crabs, that can make it under such unpredictable conditions can exist in very high numbers. The Wolcotts say that humans need to understand estuaries in order to make wise decisions about coastal development, pollution control, seafood industry support, estuary protection and more. These are some of the interesting questions.