NEVER SHAKE HANDS WITH A COCONUT CRAB

 NEVER EVER SHAKE “HANDS” WITH A COCONUT CRAB

This type of crab is usually referred to as the “robber crab” or “palm thief.” It is a terrestrial species of a giant hermit crab, and is the largest known terrestrial arthropod. It weighs up to 9 pounds (4.1 kilograms). Its body length is up to 3 feet. It is found on islands all across the Indian and Pacific oceans. Unfortunately, it is a threatened (vulnerable) species, primarily because of human activities. It is not aggressive toward people, but, of course, it will defend itself, if provoked. They are also good climbers, and can climb up into palm trees.

Their carapace (“shell”) can be blue/black, gray, orangish brown, red or reddish), purple, or even yellowish. There can also be spots and streaks of variable color on the exoskeleton (carapace). 

Fig. 1: A hand-drawn/colored illustration of a coconut crab (from plate 4 in a 1849 book) (see References below). 

Figs. 2 and 3. Restriction free, internet-derived (creazilla.com) and royality-free images of two species of living coconut crabs.

Juvenile coconut crabs might typically use empty-gastropod shells for protection, but adult specimens are not “shell carriers.”Juveniles of coconut crabs, furthermore, live in the water, whereas the adults become only air breathers.  Coconut crabs are omnivores (i.e., they can eat both plants and meat). They especially like fleshy fruits, nuts, seeds, and pith of fallen trees. They are also cannibalistic.

The claws of coconut crabs claws are strong enough to be able to rip open a coconut, as well as take a human finger off. The "cracking force" of their claws can be greater than 1500 newtons (note: a grizzly bear has only 1410 newtons of force in its claws).

Coconut crabs, like all crabs, have to periodically molt (shed) their exoskeleton, in order to grow larger (and you think you have problems!). The adults usually hide (from 3 to 16 weeks) in burrows that they dig, up to l m (3.3 feet) long, while the molting process is taking place because these animals are very vulnerable during molting. Coconut crabs can live to be 60 years old!

Their eggs are placed in the sea. The larvae take 3 to 4 weeks before settling on the ocean floor. Coconut crabs are also adapt at attaching their larvae to floating logs.

Classification: 

Phylum Arthropoda

Class Malacostra

Order Decopoda

Family Coenobitidae

Genus Birgus

Type Species B. latro

The fossil record of coconut crabs is Miocene to Recent.

Coconut crabs can eat birds, and they can also eat carrion and other organic material. Hence, early postings on the internet commonly inferred that the famous aviatrix, Amelia Earthart, whose plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean, while she was attempting to fly around the world in a small plane, might have been eaten by coconut crabs, if her plane had crashed on a tropical island. Today, some internet postings state this assertion as a fact, that indeed she was eaten by such crabs, but there is not a shred of evidence to back up this assertion! This is a prime example of how false information can spread via the internet! So, as always, be informed and do not fall victim to unproven facts.

References

1849. Dictionnaire d’Histoire Naturele. [I found this reference online at en.m.wikipedia.org].

2025. Wikipedia.

THE PAGODA SEASHELL

This seashell is Columbarium pagoda (Lesson, 1831). It lives offshore, in moderately deep water, and most specimens of this species are collected via a “drag net.” Otherwise, specimens are usually found  broken. This gastropod lives mainly in the area from Japan to the East China Sea and South China Sea and lives in sandy to muddy bottoms (50 to 200 m deep). It is rare in shallower depths.

Figure 1

                                                   Figure 2

Figures 1 and 2. Apertural (front view) and abapertural (back view)  of Columbarium pagoda (height 65 mm = a typical height for the some of the largest specimens of this species).

The shell is fusiform with an elongated spire and a long anterior canal with small spines on the upper half of the anterior canal. This gastropod is predatory/carnivorous. It feeds mainly on tube-dwelling polychaetes (worm-like animals). 

Classification

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Mollusca

Class Gastropoda

Order Neogastropoda

Family Columbariidae

Genus Columbarium

Species pagoda

The shell of this species ranges from white to brownish.

The name “columbarium” is also used for a cineramum = a place where funerany urns containing cremated remains of the dead are store.

REFERENCE

Abbott, R.T. and S. P. Dance, 1982. P. 158. Compendium of seashells. A full-color guide to more than 4,200 of the world’s marine shells. A color guide to more than 4,200 of the wolrd’s marine shells. E.P. Dutton, New York. 411 pp.  

UTAHRAPTOR DINOSAUR TOE CLAW

UTAHRAPTOR DINOSAUR CLAW

Utahraptor was a large carniviorous dromaeosaurid dinosaur lineage that lived in western North America during Early Cretaceous time (139 to 135 million years ago). This dinosaur was 6 feet tall, up to 20 feet long, and weighed about 1,000 pounds. It kept its retractable toe claws (up to 7 inches long) sharp by holding them off the ground when running/hunting. This post focuses on the replica a toe claw of Utahraptor. These plaster-of-Paris replicas are available online for purchase at reasonable cost.

Classification of Utahraptor:

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Chordata

Class Reptilia

Clades: three of them

Family Dromaeosauiridae

Genus Utahraptor

Type Species: Utahraptor ostrommaysi

Figure 1. Utahraptor ostrommaysi. The red arrow points to where the illustrated toe claw (see Fig. 2) was located.

Figure 2. Life-size (5.5 inches long and 2.75 inches wide) plaster replica of a toe-claw from the foot of an Utahraptor. If you look closely, you can see the prominent “blood groove” that is present on the central part of the claw. These replicas are available online for relatively low prices.

Reference

Wikipedia 2026.

THE JAWLESS HAGFISH

I recently watched a video on television about this animal, whose name is a, misnomer (it is not a fish). The video was about the fishing industry that catches hagfish for commercial purposes. The fact that there is even an industry that seeks out hagfish surprised me! 

The hagfish is a fish but a very primitive jawless one (Fig. 1). It is the only known living animal that has a skull but no vertebral column (although it does have rudimentary vertebrae). They have no internal skeleton, and what is present consists of only cartilage. They produce massive amounts of milky slime, which provide protection for the animal. They are up to 1.4 m length. They are gray fo pinkish in color (Wikipedia, 2026). They lack scales, paired fins, and dorsal fins. They can “tie” their own bodies into knots in order to rake off excess slime. 

Overall, they resemble a fat eel (15 to 16 cm long = about 6.5 inches)) with a rather complicated mouth area consisting of a pair of sensory barbels (used for smelling) next to the mouth, which has numerous well-hidden teeth located inside the mouth on a plate that protracts and retracts. In the central part of their mouth region is a rounded nostril (hagfish have a good sense of smell). The length of the main body of the animal has numerous small pores along its sides. There tails are paddle-like.

They are deep-sea bottom scavengers and eat carrion (e.g., dead whales—note: the hagfish enter the actual cavities of dead whales that settle out on the ocean floor. Hagfish are night dwellers. They prefer muddy bottoms as deep as 5600 feet (1700 m). They occur in dense congregations, with up to 15,000 individuals. Females outnumber males. They do not migrate more than about 60 miles.  

Their geologic range is Carboniferous Period to Recent (almost unchanged in 340 million years.)

                                                                      

They have been referred to as belonging to the “Agnatha group” of fishes (note: A = without; gnathos = jaw). They lack true bony jaws and teeth.  They have a skull but no vertebrae (note: they are the only known living animals that have a skull but no vertebral column (although they do have rudimentary vertebrae). They use their raspy tongue to eat worms and carrion. They have a pointed snout and barbels around their mouth.

They are indeed eel-like but are not eels. They are jawless, marine fish that produce massive amounts of slime as a defense mechanism which can clog the gills of a predator. They use their rasping tongue to tear food. They have a biting mouth with a rasping tongue with two pairs of comb-shaped horny teeth. According to Wikipepia (2026), the poor vision of the hagfish is because their eyes lack a lens), which greatly reduces their vision. Interestingly, they are known to have one of the lowest blood pressures among the vertebrates. 

They are deep-sea carrion eaters that hunt for food at night (although the water is so deep and dark and hagfish are nearly blind, saying they are night dwellers is hardly justified). They prefer cold-water depths down to 1700 m (5600 feet). There are 67 living species of these animals which are referred to as myxines (or more commonly, as hagfish).

They live in temperate seas (i.e., prefer cold waters) in both hemispheres. They are absent in the Red Sea (they need salinity but the Red Sea might be too saline and/or too warm). 

They are eaten by humans! And, there is a thriving industry that uses nets to catch them for human consumption.

  Classification

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Chordata

Class Myxini

Order Myxiniformes

Family Myxinidae

Genus Myxsine

Type Species M. glutinosa Linnaeus, 1758

There could be as many as seven genera. 

References

aquaticcomunity.com

Long, J.A. 1995. The rise of fishes. 500 million years of evolution. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 225 pp.

Wikipedia. 2026.

 

FUNNY SIMILARITIES IN SOME NAMES OF UNRELATED ANIMALS

      (The following are names in the published literature. I did not make them up. Also, this list is, by no means, complete.)

Flying lemur, flying fox, flying fish, flying squirrel, Wallace’s Flying frog, flying ray, flying snake, flying lemurs, flying squid.

Toad, toadstool, nematode, fire-bellied toads, jungle toads, helmeted water toads, false toads, midwife toads, Australian toadlets, European spadefoot toads, American spadefoot toads, narrow-mouth toads, hoptoads, red-spotted toads, oak toad, Railroad Valley Toad.

Bats, bat rays, globin bat, baseball bats, lesser bulldog bat, naked bulldog bat, painted bat, ghost-faced bat, big brown bat, little brown bat, great-evening bat, red-lipped batfish. 

Batman, Aqua Man, Spiderman.

Vampire, vampire squid, vampire bat, vampire squirrel, vampire crab, vampire flying frog, vampire fish (vampire tetra), vampire moth.

Killer whale, killer worm, killer bee, killer clam, killer snail, cow killer [= a large velvet ant].

Brachiopod, isopod, pteropod, amphipod, arthropod, cephalopod, decapod, gastropod. 

Meerkat, bobcat, fisher cat, polecat, civet cat, Asian bear cat.

King snake, king cobra, king crab, kingfisher, king vulture, king salmon, king penguin, King Kong.

Sea snake, tiger snake, cat snake, chicken snake, coachwhip snake, egg-eater snake, parrot snake, worm snake, zebra snake, wolf snake, whip snake, chicken snake, coachwhip snake, egg-eater snake, milk snake, parrot snake, tiger snake, flying snake, Golden-tree snake, tree snake.

Electric catfish, electric ray.

Globlin shark, globlin bat, globin spider.

Brain coral, elk-horn coral.

Hammerhead worm, hammerhead shark, hammerhead bat.

Flatworm, computer worm, round worm, tape worm, segmented worm, flat-topped worm, hookworm, ribbon worm, jumping worm, ice-cream-cone worm, spaghetti worm, scale worm, bloodworm, bamboo worm, fire worm, Christmas-tree worm, parchment worm, segmented worm, cone worm.

Bumblebee bat, painted bat, lesser bulldog bat, naked-bulldog bat.

Dracula ant, Dracula parrot, Dracula fish.

Honey bear, bearcat, meercats.

Coconuts, coconut crabs.

GEOLOGIC HISTORY OF THE MALDIVES ARCHIPELAGO

The independent Republic of Maldives, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean (Fig. 1) immediately south of India, is the smallest nation in Asia. It is also the lowest-lying country in the world with an average elevation of only 1.5 m (4.5 feet) above sea level. With the polar ice caps of Earth currently in the process of melting, the sea level rising,  thus the future of the Maldives (which is a popular vacation site) is problematic. In 2022 census, there were about 500,000 people living in the Maldives.

Figure 1. Location of the Maldives (north to south) chain of islands.

This island nation is made up of coral islands and sandbanks built on a submerged ridge. The islands represent low-laying coral atolls. An atoll is a roughly circular structure consisting of a coral reef surrounded by deep water of the open ocean. Typically, there are inlets in the reef that allow ocean water to accumulate in a shallow lagoon (10 to 100 m deep) in the center of an atoll. In some cases, the center of the atoll becomes filled with carbonate sand.

The Maldives began forming 68 million years ago as a hotspot, which also produced the Deccan Traps (lava flows) in India. As India moved northward, the hotspot generated an island chain in the Indian Ocean. Today, the islands are located in the central section of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge/Plateau which extends from north to south, as indicated by the red arrows in Figure 2.

                                                           
         Figure 2. The arrows point to the extent of the island chain

                       (archipelago) that makes up the Maldives.

    

For an informative step-by-step explanation of the formation of the Maldives, I recommend the website: dreamingofmaldives.com. It is a summary of the history of this remarkable chain of reefs: starting with a chain of active volcanoes, then the eruptions stopped, then sea level rose and the volcanoes sank underwater. At the interior of the islands, fringing reefs formed and eventually became barrier reefs. The entire process of atoll formation took about 30 million years.

There are 16 major atolls (and many minor ones) in the Maldives, each consisting of a ring of coral reef around a lagoon. In some cases the lagoons are open (Fig. 3), partially (Fig. 4) or completely filled (Fig. 5) with coral sand.

Figure 3. Example of a flooded atoll in the Maldives (Google Earth image).

Figure 4. Example of a partially flooded atoll in the northern part of the Maldives, with some human occupation (Google Earth image).

Figure 5. Example of a filled atoll in the northern part of the Maldives, with extensive human occupation (Google Earth image).

MOUNT ST. HELENS, SOON AFTER ITS ERUPTION IN 2008

 

Mount Saint Helens (current elevation 8,366 feet) is an active explosive dacite stratovolcano in southwestern Washington. Its latest eruption was on Jan. 16, 2008, but its eruption on May 18, 1980 was of considerable size, and, obviously, got the attention of inhabitants in that area and the rest of the world!

 

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake on May 18, 1980 initiated the collapse of part of the mountain-top of Mount St. Helens. The collapsed material ended up in a massive debris avalanche that released pressured gas, leading to a powerful lateral blast that that flattened 230 square miles of evergreen-tree forest! The eruption also caused a towering ash cloud (thousands of feet tall). 

Mount St. Helens was 9600 feet tall before the eruption, which lasted 9 hours. After the eruption, the mountain was 1300 feet shorter! It is now 8300 feet tall. The eruption lasted nine hours, killed 57 people, and permanently altered the landscape.

The area is now a National Volcanic Monument.

I made a trip to the area several months after the eruption, and that is when I took pictures (some shown here, below) of the mountain and its surroundings. The area was open then to the public and still is, as far as I know. One of the most memorable features was the huge amount of flattened trees. I had never seen anything like it before.

The following four images sum up most of the results of the massive eruption. I took the pictures from the paved highway that traverses through the Mt. St. Helens area:

                                   overview of Mt. St. Helens

swath of blown-down-trees destruction

   closeup of a representative tree-blow down area

                         a tree trunk still standing after the horrific" blow down"