Interesting Crab lovers in the Sea of Cortez

 

 So to start off I have been to Puerto Penasco, Mexico many many times and I honestly did not know about how diverse the marine life was here. I have seen baby turtles being released before, so I at least know that turtles inhabit these waters. However, typically the only time I would see marine life was either a dead fish washed up on shore or in someones taco. Thankfully this trip has been expanding my knowledge on the marine life here and I saw a very interesting find on my very first night at CEDO which is the intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans. While on our search for marine life during low tide during the night we found these crabs as seen in the picture that are in a mating embrace, where the male crab will wrap himself around the female so that she cannot escape. Nothing to crazy right just crabs mating, however what made this interesting was that they are both females. We observed based on the shape of the apron the underside of the crabs that they were both females, because female crabs have a wider apron compared to males which has a longer narrower apron like a lighthouse. This was honestly something that I never thought I would come across, so I found it interesting because even though we did disturb them a little bit the crab on top never let go of the other one and would just carry it around in a lovers embrace. I am excited to see what else I can find and experience during the intertidal exploration of the Sea of Cortez. This is only day two as of writing this and I already have found many new things to share. Till next time :)

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