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As far-fetched as this lustful tale of invertebrate procreation 

 may sound, at least one research project has documented higher 

 mortality rates among male blue crabs in co-ed shedding systems 

 — but so far nobody knows exactly why. 



"Male crabs can control their molt a little bit," says Dell 

 Newman, of Newman Seafood in Swan Quarter. "The bigger 

 males will try to breed instead of shed." 



Newman and researcherjuan Chaves of North Carolina 

 State University received an N.C. Fishery Resource Grant to study 

 whether separating male and female blue crabs into different 

 shedding systems affected male molting time and mortality. 



Newman explains that males in his shedding system often 

 start "cradle-carrying" a female, a precursory behavior to mating. 

 He and Chaves found that although separating the sexes didn't 

 affect male molting time, it did reduce mortality. 



But, perhaps more importantly, the "delay molt to mate" 

 theory is a reminder that molting is actually a far more intriguing 

 process than many people think. In fact, most folks — even the 

 most discriminating seafood connoisseurs — usually don't think 

 about molting at all. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 23 



