"Floaters"-by Sarah ( age 8 )

Have you ever wondered what floaters are?  Well, I've got good news.  A floater happens after a crab has puffed itself with water.  Well, you see the crab says to himself, "Hum, I'm think'in I need a bigger shell."   So, he peals his shell off  (these crabs are called 'pealers' ) and puffs up his new, soft shell with water.  Kinda like a Puffer Fish, but the crab can't unpuff.  So, when his shell hardens, he looks big but only has a little meat inside of the big claws.


A few days ago we caught 10 claws.  They were all floaters, so they only had a little bit of meat, but I heard they were good.  I didn't eat any because I don't like crab.

When we cooked the claws in hot water they floated because there was a lot of shell and a little bit of meat and a yellow colored gel that was turning into meat.

Daddy says we are going to wait another month before we start selling claws so that they will be full of meat.

P.S.  The SCDNR people want to come and get on are new boat.  We named the boat 'Clawd' .