Nature Blog Network

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Clean up time!

Mark your calendars down for the 20th of September for International Coastal Cleanup Day. Donate a couple hours to helping to clean up the beaches and waterways of litter both above and below the waters surface. In my own area there will be at least three separate efforts including one sponsored by the University's EcoHusky and diving clubs. Other local efforts are being sponsored by the local nature center and the Mystic Aquarium.

To find out what groups are organizing in your area you can register as a volunteer, or contact your local US coordinator (pdf) or international coordinator (pdf) directly.


Trashed Home
A hermit crab found Alex and I found on Southwater Caye in Belize using a bottle cap as a shell. Of course this is indicative of a two fold problem.

#1 - a lack of available size-appropriate shells caused in part by increased shell collecting
#2 - too much trash available

Classification of the Caribbean Hermit or Tree-Climbing Crab:
Kingdom
Animalia

Phylum
Arthropoda

Subphylum
Crustacea

Class
Malacostraca

Order
Amphipoda

Suborder
Decapoda

Family
Coenobitidae

Genus
Coenobita

Species
Coenobita clypeatus



3 comments:

  1. I'm still trying to figure out where I am going to go. I normally do the beach across the way (where the picture on my blog was taken), which is sponsered by the local aquarium. I think they flaked out this year though... (they've always been a bit of a flake about it, leaving early, setting up late, etc.)

    The next two beaches really don't need it as much (small, have monthly clean-ups, and get a lot of volunteers). Maybe I'll just clean up my beach anyway.

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  2. Thanks for posting about coastal clean-up day. It's been an important event for our family.

    Brine Queen, have you called down there to ask about the situation for next weekend?

    I'll be sure next year to feature coastal cleanup as a topic for the meme.

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  3. That is amazing... I had no idea a hermit crab would even do that. I came upon your post because my daughter just got a pair of hermit crabs and one of ours has just been changing shells like crazy and I was trying to make sure we had everything is needed.

    Thanks for the picture and interesting post.

    ReplyDelete

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