Fishing With Face

Quote: DRich

This may be one of the strangest and funniest posts I have ever read.

LOL. I'm glad someone actually enjoyed it.

Much of it is true by the way.

NO, they do NOT hunt humans much less do they hunt in pairs and start with the toes. They hunt mainly by smell which is why that photograph shows one trying to pry open a garbage can.

It IS true about the Sea Mango diet. It makes them poisonous and after one or two bites a male will die with red cheeks, red chest and a huge erection. Other than that are obviously a hermit crab without a shell. And most human-crab encounters result in a tasty and safe dinner for the human.

The tickling its underbelly as a prelude to sex is true I am told, but I sure ain't gonna ever get close enough to one to find out.

Quote: Fleastiff

It IS true about the Sea Mango diet. It makes them poisonous and after one or two bites a male will die with red cheeks, red chest and a huge erection.

depending on how long it takes before you die, some of our old duffers might figure "what a way to go!"

Quote: odiousgambit

depending on how long it takes before you die, some of our old duffers might figure "what a way to go!"

It would be about thirty to sixty seconds, I think. Fortunately few meandering yachties are going to encounter coconut crabs that have been feasting on sea mangoes.

Oh, what are we worried about anyway? Just a crab.

Quote: rxwine

Just another ordinary morning and you go out to put something in the trash... Hello there!

I have just learned that in Micronesia it is common for Coconut Crabs to be put on the fire alive. I don't think I could do that.

To kill them or cook them? I suppose it's the former. I couldn't do it either.

Btw, today is the first (official) day of trout season. Jax is ready and rarin', and it's supposed to be 60* tomorrow. Might have to revive the thread...

Quote: Fleastiff

Quote: rxwine

Just another ordinary morning and you go out to put something in the trash... Hello there!

I have just learned that in Micronesia it is common for Coconut Crabs to be put on the fire alive. I don't think I could do that.

As far as I know, all crabs are cooked alive? At least the first time, then just steamed or other method once frozen.

The cannery's won't buy them off the boats if they are dead, so the fisherman have to watch how full they stuff the tanks, make sure that they don't get to much fresh water mixed in the hold with the salt water etc.

edit that: commercial crabs are cooked alive, there is no effort to kill them first. Private crabs, sometimes get cleaned at the dock before cooking. The commercial crabs are gutted after their cooked.

that's as fresh as it gets and quite essential with that kind of food - lots of examples

So here's an, "I wonder...." about fish. Do bigger fish have bigger brains? If so, does this mean they are "smarter"? If they are smarter, how is it expressed?

What about crabs? Do bigger crabs have bigger brains? Does that mean a Coconut Crab is smarter than a Dungeness?

Quote: Ayecarumba

So here's an, "I wonder...." about fish. Do bigger fish have bigger brains? If so, does this mean they are "smarter"? If they are smarter, how is it expressed?

Do you mean literally as in size, or functionally as in mental capacity?

Literally, of course. Many fish only grow to the length of your pinky. Even the mighty steelhead starts out as a fry not much bigger than your fingernail. Compare that to the big boys who when born are already 2' long and mature into 65' behemoths; yes, their brains are physically bigger.

Capacity wise, it's not a size thing but an evolutionary one. "Fish" is a huge, broad stroke group, not unlike "mammal" or "reptile". And just like those other groups, the differences found within are astounding.

Generally, the "ancient" fish are lower on the mental capacity scale. Their brains consist of little more than eat and breed. Other fish have developed a primitive "almost social" structure. They'll work in groups, for instance, when it comes to feeding. Others, like members in the grouper family, have a sort of parental instinct, protecting their newborn young and sometimes holding them in their mouths as protection. These acts point towards a higher mental capacity than the base "eating and #$%^ing" machines.

But even the stupid fish are kind of smart. I've written stuff that I've seen by keeping some captive and everything from knowing when food is coming to knowing which food to avoid are things they pick up as fast as any dog. It's very interesting stuff.

Crabs? Have no idea. My only experience with crustaceans has been crayfish, and I'd classify them as the "eat and breed" types. With a spot of murder thrown in now again. Total dummies with nothing to make me feel otherwise.