Preserved European Green Shore Crabs from and 50 similar items

The European Green Crab, or Green Shore Crab, (Carcinus maenas) is "listed among the 100 world's worst alien invasive species." If you live on the coast of New England and look under any rock in a tide pool, chances are you will find some of these green crabs. Although they are an invasive species, they are still fascinating to study. Most of these crabs were found in marshes near Portsmouth and Rye, NH. What happens is when it is high tide, there is a multitude of them but when the tide goes out and the marsh grass is exposed, they are trapped in the marsh grass and cannot get out. Eventually they die and get sundried. This is why many of them appear whitish. In order to give them much added strength and stability, hot glue was put on the joints because their shells are incredibly fragile. Many will have imperfections because they are found in nature: some are white from being sunbleached, some are reddish if they were green and had to be dried out longer, some have legs missing, etc. Some have been put back together with hot glue because of their fragility. They could be used for crafts with a beach theme, or as curiosities from nature.