| Laura Carrier -
Crab Lab
St. Mary's College of Maryland, St. Mary's City, MD |
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Laura (second from right) is showing sample specimens from the fish weir to interns from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, National Zoo, Center for Research Conservation. |
| As an intern in the Fish and Invertebrate Lab (Crab Lab), I am studying the juvenile blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus). I am working to find a short-term tag that remains on a crab's carapace until it molts and a long-term tag that remains through a crab's most. The development of a fast and inexpensive tag is a challenge and has been the limiting factor in furthering out knowledge about the life history of the blue crab. After determining the most successful tagging procedure, I will conduct release and recapture experiments to learn how fast crabs will move from a dispersal site and whether they prefer a specific structure as a habitat. I will release the tagged crabs into bare sediment, artificial sea grass beds, oyster reefs, riprap, and coarse woody debris and recapture them at a set time period afterwards using caissons (large metal boxes set upon the habitat that traps all organisms inside), and a seine net. These preliminary experiments are part of a large study in conjunction with the Center of Marine Biotechnology in Baltimore, MD. |