Van Gogh Museum

ancient greek is a very silly language in general but it also had a word for ‘being a little too into horses’ so really the greeks were not that different from us at all

uHhhhh okay marry me

High Sierra (Raoul Walsh, 1941)

Marlene Dietrich in a Knize lounge suit, c.1931

idealized version of myself has hair down to my waist, pearl earrings, and a long white lacy nightdress that trails several feet behind me. also i am barefoot and there are bloodstains on the dress (not my own) and it is nighttime

Dungeness crab Megalopa Research

Hello fellow POE students! The host organization I work with is known as Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group (PCRG). They are a research group whose main function is to find ways to sustainably manage Dungeness crabs in the Pacific Northwest. Within PCRG, my specific role is to monitor Dungeness crab megalopae (larva) abundances. I am able to do this using a tool called a light trap. These traps are programmed to essentially “fish” for megalopae for two nights. Once the two nights are up, I check the traps and count how many megalopae they have caught.

Through working at my internship, I have experience and learned some really interesting things. I would say the most intriguing thing I’ve learned to far is how to properly ID certain crab megalopa species. It is fun to learn because it involves getting a closer look at the larvae under a microscope and getting an idea of the morphological differences between all the species. This aligns with my future goals because I want to work in species conservation after college, and it is hard to know how to conserve certain species without first knowing how to ID them.

The biggest challenge I’ve faced in my internship so far is coming up with an effective way to address my research question. My research question involves comparing Dungeness crab megalopa abundances to other crab species megalopa abundances in order to predict interspecies competition. However, other crab megalopa species almost always appear in the trap at much smaller numbers than Dungeness crab megalopae. In order to better address the research question, I have decided to not only compare the megalopa species abundances at the light trap, but I will also compare the juvenile species abundances in the nearshore habitats. This will give me a better idea of which crab species are able to successfully outcompete other crab species while settling in nearshore habitats.

-Brendan Beaudette

Here are a couple microscopic photos I took in the lab. One photo is a hermit crab megalopa and the other photo is a mussel crab juvenile.

Thank you for reading my blog post, I will wrap things up with one question for my readers. Do you think interspecies competition has any correlation to Dungeness crab decline, or do you think the decline is caused by other phenomena?

Getty Images. Sidewalk cafe in the cold. Paris. 1930s

Hellraiser (1987) // dir. Clive Barker

Opéra Garnier, Paris.

What if… I would bring you wild flowers… and… read some Keats to you while you’re falling asleep… in my arms? Aha ha, just kidding… unless?