Aspiring Writer Posted December 14, 2020 Report Share Posted December 14, 2020 Hi, I'm back. So what exactly happens to crab's shell once they die? Like, if you have seen an octopus eat a crab, you know it leaves the shell there. What happens to it? Does a certain animal break it down it some do for poop? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condensation Posted December 14, 2020 Report Share Posted December 14, 2020 I'm almost... afraid to ask. Well, I looked it up and found a whole lot about... humans digesting crab shells... but that's not what you want. I also found this interesting scholarly article that says that the Pacific Ocean is dissolving shells. So I'd say that they probably stay on the bottom of the ocean until they're weathered away. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspiring Writer Posted December 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2020 It's just for the ecosystem of something I'm writing that is predominantly Giant Octopuses and Craps and no fish which is difficult as I need to see how much that affects. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condensation Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 8 hours ago, Aspiring Writer said: It's just for the ecosystem of something I'm writing that is predominantly Giant Octopuses and Craps and no fish which is difficult as I need to see how much that affects. Ah. Well, the fish would not eat the shells, as far as I know. So it shouldn't be too much. *decides not to correct your misspelling* 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Somebody from Scadrial Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 14 hours ago, Aspiring Writer said: It's just for the ecosystem of something I'm writing that is predominantly Giant Octopuses and Craps and no fish which is difficult as I need to see how much that affects. Actually. Some octopuses eat shells I believe, so that might help. They probably do mostly just decompose. The should totally be an animal that use shells it finds on the sea floor as armour. Likely an octopus that has a lot of control over the size of it's body. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspiring Writer Posted December 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 1 minute ago, Somebody from Sel said: Actually. Some octopuses eat shells I believe, so that might help. They probably do mostly just decompose. The should totally be an animal that use shells it finds on the sea floor as armour. Likely an octopus that has a lot of control over the size of it's body. Fun fact, there is an octopus that carries around two coconut shells or clam shells as shelter/armor. Also, octopuses did used to have a shell for armor but eventually lost it, and is likely why octopuses are so unique and awesome. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Somebody from Scadrial Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 22 minutes ago, Aspiring Writer said: Fun fact, there is an octopus that carries around two coconut shells or clam shells as shelter/armor. Also, octopuses did used to have a shell for armor but eventually lost it, and is likely why octopuses are so unique and awesome. So it works better than I thought, Cool. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shard of Reading Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 9 hours ago, Aspiring Writer said: Also, octopuses did used to have a shell for armor but eventually lost it *Decides to write story about armored octopus* 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condensation Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 Maybe I should... That would be cool. Did you know that there are many accepted pluralised forms of octopus? Octopuses, octopodes, octopods... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Somebody from Scadrial Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 42 minutes ago, Ookla the Grammatical said: Maybe I should... That would be cool. Did you know that there are many accepted pluralised forms of octopus? Octopuses, octopodes, octopods... Actually there can only be two true ones, octopuda and octopuses. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condensation Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 1 hour ago, Somebody from Sel said: Actually there can only be two true ones, octopuda and octopuses. How do you know that? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Somebody from Scadrial Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 1 hour ago, Ookla the Grammatical said: How do you know that? Octopus is a Greek combination, so it's plural would technically be octopuda, but it can also be considered an English word and would therefore have the plural octopuses. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condensation Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 Just now, Somebody from Sel said: Octopus is a Greek combination, so it's plural would technically be octopuda, but it can also be considered an English word and would therefore have the plural octopuses. But octopodes? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frustration Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 Octopi. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condensation Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 Octopodes is better. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspiring Writer Posted December 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 Octopuses and octopi are the only one I have heard. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condensation Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 18 minutes ago, Aspiring Writer said: Octopuses and octopi are the only one I have heard. Octopodes is my favourite. It's because of the root, I think. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smye Posted December 16, 2020 Report Share Posted December 16, 2020 One particularly fascinating bit of info regarding: crab shell discards - throughout their lives they regularly shed their shells. Not only does this allow the crab to grow larger, but they concentrate heavy metals (such as led) in their shells, effectively chelating themselves every time they molt and shed their toxic load. Seems like something that would be exciting to work into worldbuilding. Discarded shells are also dissolving at an increasing rate due to the rise of CO2 in the air precipitating a drop in ocean pH (in the form of carbonic acid). Lastly, per the NIH, chitin (of which crab shells are composed) is the most abundant renewable polymer in the oceans and is an important source of carbon and nitrogen for marine organisms. The process of chitin degradation is a key step in the cycling of nutrients in the oceans and chitinolytic bacteria play a significant role in this process. These bacteria are autochthonous to both marine and freshwater ecosystems and produce chitinases that degrade chitin, an insoluble polysaccharide, to a biologically useful form. In this brief review, a description of the structure of chitin and diversity of chitinolytic bacteria in the oceans is provided, in the context of the significance of chitin degradation for marine life. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspiring Writer Posted December 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2020 9 hours ago, Smye said: One particularly fascinating bit of info regarding: crab shell discards - throughout their lives they regularly shed their shells. Not only does this allow the crab to grow larger, but they concentrate heavy metals (such as led) in their shells, effectively chelating themselves every time they molt and shed their toxic load. Seems like something that would be exciting to work into worldbuilding. Discarded shells are also dissolving at an increasing rate due to the rise of CO2 in the air precipitating a drop in ocean pH (in the form of carbonic acid). Lastly, per the NIH, chitin (of which crab shells are composed) is the most abundant renewable polymer in the oceans and is an important source of carbon and nitrogen for marine organisms. The process of chitin degradation is a key step in the cycling of nutrients in the oceans and chitinolytic bacteria play a significant role in this process. These bacteria are autochthonous to both marine and freshwater ecosystems and produce chitinases that degrade chitin, an insoluble polysaccharide, to a biologically useful form. In this brief review, a description of the structure of chitin and diversity of chitinolytic bacteria in the oceans is provided, in the context of the significance of chitin degradation for marine life. Wow. Thank you. Do you know how fast the shells degrade? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spren of Kindness Posted December 17, 2020 Report Share Posted December 17, 2020 (edited) I don't know sciency stuff, but I see lots of crab shells on the beaches near where I live, so some of them end up there. Edited December 17, 2020 by Spren of Kindness 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condensation Posted December 17, 2020 Report Share Posted December 17, 2020 I don't remember seeing any on the beach when we went for a week or so, but that could just mean that there weren't many crabs there. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smye Posted December 17, 2020 Report Share Posted December 17, 2020 3 hours ago, Spren of Kindness said: I don't know sciency stuff, but I see lots of crab shells on the beaches near where I live, so some of them end up there. Most of these are the discards from crab moults, rather than necessarily the leftovers from crabs being eaten. You can (roughly) tell by whether the eyes are still in place or if there are two eyeholes from where the moulting crab withdrew its allseeing orbs 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condensation Posted December 17, 2020 Report Share Posted December 17, 2020 2 minutes ago, Smye said: Most of these are the discards from crab moults, rather than necessarily the leftovers from crabs being eaten. You can (roughly) tell by whether the eyes are still in place or if there are two eyeholes from where the moulting crab withdrew its allseeing orbs Oh, cool! Good to know. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smye Posted December 17, 2020 Report Share Posted December 17, 2020 (edited) 11 hours ago, Aspiring Writer said: Wow. Thank you. Do you know how fast the shells degrade? That's a rather complicated question, depending on the pH of the particular region of water they inhabit, the lifestage of the crab, the particular makeup of their carapace, etc etc. You may find this article helpful. Additionally, while this is not my particular specialty (that would be education leadership and transition metal chemistry), I have found historically that emailing the author of a journal article a) REALLY makes their day and B ) yields an impressive level of help/education from the author... this is particularly useful when academic research is otherwise hidden behind a paywall. Edit to add: It also depends on the particular critters inhabiting a given crab's region as marine bacteria are some of the primary utilizers of discarded chitin for their own purposes. Edited December 17, 2020 by Smye 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smye Posted December 17, 2020 Report Share Posted December 17, 2020 Also these (among others): Full: https://academic.oup.com/femsle/article/204/2/367/473284 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2013.00149/full https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nemat_Keyhani/publication/12721403_Physiological_aspects_of_chitin_catabolism_in_marine_bacteria/links/5a4ba331458515a6bc6ae068/Physiological-aspects-of-chitin-catabolism-in-marine-bacteria.pdf https://aem.asm.org/content/aem/74/1/44.full.pdf Behind paywalls (if you do bug the author, be kind, patient, respectful, etc): https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4684-7612-5_10 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00058835 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.