Some say that the Ghost Crab was robbed in the Crab Cup. But good things come to crabs that wait, and we’re delighted to be able to announce that the crab of the year is the Atlantic Ghost Crab. This is a semi-terrestrial burrow dwelling crab, with some of the most spectacular ocular peduncles (eye-stalks) out there. This crab is an important part of the ecosystems that it inhabits, and despite its voracious appetite for baby sea turtles, this crab is cool as heck. So congratulations to the Ghost Crab ..read more

Well, not really. It’s a bit of a fool’s errand to try and really understand the experiences of animals beyond ourselves in a direct way. That’s not to say it isn’t immensely useful when it comes to looking at behaviours, interactions and responses in animals - or pretty much anything, to be honest. People much clevererer than us have dedicated their lives to exploring the experiences of animals, and as a species and social media manager we’re learning more and more about the sensations of non-human animals. So bear with us, and we’ll soon be able to succinctly describe the visual processe ..read more

Only joking - this is what young people call ‘clickbait’ - we actually love lobsters and respect them deeply. On the other hand, we have absolutely zero respect for the Science Museum. We’re also only going to get louder and more annoying about this - The Science Museum has lost this fight and they don’t even know it yet - which is lowkey sad. But if you thought all we did was bang on about how scientific institutions shouldn’t be tainted by the vested interests of fossil fuel and arms companies - you’ve got another thing coming! Did you know: While crabs can move in all directions, albe ..read more

Of course there are plenty of non-gelatin gummy worms out there - but it’s worth thinking about gelatin. As a byproduct it’s been used by humans for about 8,000 years, and was first used medicinally in East Asia. The earliest recorded use as a food stuff was in 10th century Baghdad where it was considered a high-end food stuff. In the past (before plastics) gelatin was also used in the theatre, with coloured gelatin employed for dramatic effect - hence the modern term for lighting tints ‘colour gels’. It is also used to hold silver halide crystals still in photographic film, and although lo ..read more

Crabs, like all animals, go through many stages of development on their inexorable journey toward death. At the beginning much like us mammals, crabs are pathetic, weak and squishy. They’re unable with any real direction to control how they move about in the water, and the tremendous currents and whirling forces can send them swooshing into the farthest flung parts of the sea. If they’re lucky enough to survive into adulthood and avoid the gaping maws of passing whales - then they can become large enough that their shells harden up and they grow so large that they are no longer suspended in ..read more

When we play on the beach, building sand castles and rubbing it into our younger brother’s eyes - we don’t often think of sand as a finite resource. But it definitely is. Our voracious appetite for concrete - and in the case of Arthur Dent, bypasses - has stripped billions and billions of tonnes of sand from our coastlines. The concrete industry is responsible for 8% of global emissions. Not all sand is created equally, and some of it - like very fine desert sand - is entirely unsuitable for use in construction. This puts huge pressure on coastlines and sea beds, often in countries where regu ..read more

Like the much loved armoured fish of the Devonian, crabs don’t really have jaws. With catchy names like Zenaspis and Ateleaspis, the Devonian fish have really made their mark on popular culture - but crabs are often overlooked by aficionados of the jawless body structure. Of the great families of Devonian fish only the often mad-looking Lamprey has survived. On the other hand, crabs have absolutely thrived! (until capitalism came around anyway, smh). The primary reason for the success of decapod crustaceans is that they clearly rock. They’ve got a hard shell, claws and swiveling eyes - but ..read more

Man like David Attenborough is quite rightly very impressed by the Weaver Bird and the nest they make. The weaver bird begins nesting with a half-hitch knot and a hoop to form the entrance. Sure, this is neat - but crustaceans are similarly capable of nesting and creating what humans might call a ‘home’. Alpheus pachychirius is a shrimp so forgotten by ‘higher-mammal’ bias it hasn’t even got a WORMS* photo, not to mention a wikipedia. Yet this fantastic creature is noted by crustacean expert Waldo Schmitt as being a truly adept home-maker. This creature will find a fold in a mat of fine alg ..read more

When it comes to courtship in crabs there are a few options out there. There is the classic pheromone approach (highly rated) as well as the show of claw strength and dexterity (bit cringe ngl). This waving approach is mostly associated with Fiddler Crabs and we recommend asking benevolent auntie Google about it. However there is another method, which requires the crab to internally grind, or stridulate, the ridges (striations) in its belly (gastric mill). To our knowledge, only Ghost Crabs are capable of making noise in this way but their efforts create a light rumbly-growling sound, which i ..read more

If you've ever read anything about fungi you probably already know that these weirdos operate on some different levels. Fungi currently have an excellent PR team (deservedly) and their incredible ability to turn insects into zombies and humans into podcast hosts is becoming a bigger and bigger part of popular culture. Fungi are cool as heck. But the kingdom of Fungi is vast - and it includes organisms much less fashionable than cordyceps and lion's mane. It also includes mold and yeast (and LOADS more). Some of these things can be used to make booze and blue cheese, but others spoil our food ..read more