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Home My WebLink AboutOctober 07, 2004 - Ever seen a 'serpent star'_ The Suffolk Times • October 7, 2004 ver seen a ` �� ser en s ar . (�l�i Na ��ll�ln N�qAtl µ��i1 (��r (�ti� /��1� . 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Left: This red-jointed fiddler crab is �� ,��b ,� ,Hh� ,�'�8% ". ti�i�� ::�'.;�-.,�� , �„ �,�� ,.,, � seldom seen. It makes its burrow in n�� u ' "g��R�^` �r � the firm muddy banks of the upper '%�� " ,��r, / � � �,. ; d, � ,� � � , �°,�� reaches of our creeks where the r��,"�'" �� ;, r�u ��,� salinit is the lowest. This monster �l�� a��'� iti qi ie � `�� l�� ^ ,�� r�w u fiddler crab is twice as big as the d '„ �� , � ti I l l/ µ „ �l, . . d I l� 4 N ' - �G"�n��"u"y�m",�;,�„ /,'�,,;,y„�, �r��,�,,, other fiddler crabs. Above: Imagine � � ,�u��n p , ir, r ,� � �� r� ' "r,,��y�;�i our surprise when we pulled up our �"�,"�"" „'�u;p� ''��7� �� '�� baited squid fish line and found this , e - �� ,'� i x � ��l��ll��l�4i�iy�7/ �� '��l ru I r r�� a� , ��,�,�� "iu�� ,, five-armed brittle star. It fell off our . �� f,� ��,-��, a��''��„�� n�^N,N� ��f��i� �,n ,�' �,, �� -,�� ,�a� �I�ti��,�u,,,��, !�1��9�'ua � n iihb'' �N a��r/li��u{�"�,�� ,� ' r l i ne an d q u ickly made its way across the deck of the boat. You rvH;vf.it Ktvow what will come are related to the common starfish up on lhc c��d oI your I�ish linc.So it that most of us are familiar with. was the othcr day on the boat when They are also known as"serpent one of our fish lines was pulled up stars"because of the way they flail ancl clinging to it was,to us,a new their arms about as they move.This kind of creature.We were in particular one is called a short- Hallocks Bay in Orient,one of the spined brittle star.The five arms *reat places on the East End for branch out from the center,which is xploring. It was here we had left a about the size of your thumbnail. fish line over It moved across the deck of the the side and for- boat much faster than the slow-mov- F�(:V$ gotten about it. ing starfish we are all used ta It ON When we pulled moves by pulling with its arms as the it up there was b�dy moves forward.It appears to �[A`�'�J RE a brittle star leap. It's fun to watch.The tube feet by Paul clinging to its on the arms are used to help bring Stoutenburgh newfound meal food to the mouth rather than for of squid. movement.The mouth is a star- I3rittic stars shaped opening in the center of the un�icnicic c�f ihc b��cly. tom o t e brittle star's arms. s y s�cc dii�g t�cn� s�clls, and so, �'rom mentioned,tbese are not used for the tiniest to the largest,there is a moving,as they are in the common series of molts that goes on unde- starfish.The long worm-like arms are tected in their one- to two-foot-long put out in front,pulled in,put out, burrows. It's in these dark,unseen pulled in to move it alon .It was something to see as it moved across largerl In facththes emale m s�t shed We gently scooped it up and put it the deck of the boat in its special and become soft so she can mate. in a cup with some fresh seawater kind of propulsion.We wanted to and watched it move about.It actual- keep it alive to brin back to a salt- �e same is true of our blue claw g crab. ly worked its way up the side of the water aquarium in the local school cup trying to get out.It was fascinat- where anxious eyes will watch it,I'm �e big daw on the fiddler crab is ing to watch and it reminded us of used to lure a mate,and as a male sure. sits outside his tunnel he will wave the movements of an octopus. Although we were caught up with his big claw in the air while dancing The brittle star is blackish in colc�r. �>ur new find we couldn't help notio- on his four pointed legs to show off The whole animal is no more than �l�g the fiddler crabs on the nearby in front of the female.This waving of four or five inches across with about b�ach.They reminded me of the eighth-inch- or maybe 3/16-inch-wide y own creek. the big claw and stomping of feet ones in m eventually lures the female into his , diameter arms running out from the T'here are three types of these scur- tunnel,where matin takes place. center.Brittle stars shun daylight and ry�ng little crabs,depending on where Then for two weeks�he female stays usually do most of Yheir feeding at they live.There is a dark one,called inside waiting incubation.We hardly night. lt lives mainly among the roots the mud fiddler.It is blue black and ever see the eggs she carries under of shallow eelgrass beds.During the lives on the mud tlats, and it's the one that her.We once found a day it wraps its arms around the tan- gravid,or pregnant, gled roots where it's dark.As dark- makes its burrows along Fiddler erabs the banks of our marsh- ��male while on a walk ness takes over,the animal comes are said to be with a group at Orient out at night to feed. Evidently this es.Then there's the Beach State Park, but one had gotten a whiff of the old l�ghter,tan one with pur-- good indieators ple markin s sometimes Of 8 �'1@a�th ��11t's the only time we squid we were using far bait and g ° y have ever seen one.The couldn't resist trying to get an easy quite fancy,called the ma�h. sand fiddler that lives on ��males,by the way,only meal.Brittle stars eat mostly organic have two small claws, matter,detritus,dead fish,and things thc sand flats and digs its of that sort. burrows there.Most of us are 1'amil- up food and bring ngnt to the�nkouth. If needed,a brittle star can detach iar with the balls of sand that they After the eggs hatch out into free- an arm at will at any point along its roll out as they excavate their tun- swimming larvae,they float about i'or length.Brittle stars,as the name nels.Fiddler crabs are one of the two weeks.This drifting about is part implies,should be handlcd very gen- most conspicuous inhabitants of the of their changing into true fiddler tly because their arms are easily bro- intertidal zone and can often be seen crabs.They live on minute plankton ken off.If handled and a part breaks foraging in large groups. during this swimming stage,in which off or a crab bites a section off,it will Tt►en there is a little-known one they seem more fish than crab. It's start to regenerate immediately.The here on the East End called the red- during this swimming period that brittle star regenerates in a few J��nted fiddler that is found in the they become part of the food chain weeks,whereas starfish may take a UPper reaches of our creeks,where and become food for fish,crabs and year.You can tell when regeneration the water is brackish.This is usually other hun r re . Once on land is taking place.We occasionally see it a solitary fiddler and is huge in size they are f od for birds and mam- in starfish that have four standard compared to the mud and sand fid- mals. arms and one shorter one;the short- dlers. It can be as much as twice the size of an adult fiddler,with its hu e ind�c�ato s of a healthy mtar h,and�so er one being regenerated has not yet g =rown to its full si-r.e. claw as long as two inches;it's a if you have a colony of fiddler crabs There are litLle tubes on the bot- formidable-looking fiddler crab.This near you or if you see them in your red-jointed or brackish-water fiddler creek on the muddy sides of the actually builds a little house over its bank,it is a good indicator that the tunnel,in which it stays and over- arca is healthy. looks the area for signs of danger. So,on a fishing trip who knows All fiddler crabs live on the detri- what will come out of the water,and tus or the waste on our beaches i1'you are near shore there are always mixed with algae and bacteria that the fiddler crabs to watch,sometimes settles around their burrows. Fiddlcr in great masses,sometimes just a few, crahs, lil<c ��ur hluc claw crahs,grow but alwa s intcrestin .