No. 39 Grab a crab

Two girls catch a crab on the Isle of Wight

Crabs can wait pretty crazy when they're scuttling sideways forth the embankment or shore. If yous want to take hold of ane, y'all'll need to larn more nearly them.

Communicable a crab sounds fairly easy, right? But yous'll need to put some planning in if you're going to pull off this challenge. It's no.39 on our list of '50 things to do earlier you're 11¾'. Don't panic though, we've got some tips that should see you completing this challenge in no time at all when you're at the seaside.

Don't employ a hook to catch your crab

Don't utilise a hook, use a net instead. Yous'll want some bait (that'southward food) within the internet to grab your greedy crab quickly. Crabs love a stinky dish of raw fish heads, liver or bacon - fifty-fifty improve if it'southward a little rotten. Yuck!

Supervene upon rocks and seaweed

Elevator rocks carefully and try not to movement whatever seaweed that is fastened to rocks. If y'all take whatsoever rocks out, then gently put them back after you've found your crab.

Encounter if you lot can piece of work out what sort of crab it is

Look at your crab advisedly. What colour is it? How big are its claws? How does its shell experience? The Marine Conservation Social club have some dandy identification sheets that y'all tin can download and take with you when y'all go to the seaside, and they're not simply for venereal, but all sorts of other things you might find at the beach. In that location's a link below to the Seashore Safari Guide.

Put the crab back afterwards

Crabs have homes too and places to go besides (probably), and then after you've got to know each other a trivial bit and once you've worked out what type of crab you've caught, so information technology's best to pop it right back where you found it.

Meet bounding main shells

If you've institute some empty sea shells then don't forget that hermit venereal like to make their homes in the discarded shells of whelks or periwinkles, and then you could even get out some as a housewarming... or an bodily house!

Cheque the tide times

It's e'er wise to have checked the tide times for the embankment yous're hunting on to make sure yous don't get cutting off by an incoming tide.