Those Fibbing Fiddlers

Big Boy: "Howdy there little lady, come on over and check out my nice crib and mammoth claw!"

Little Lady: "How do I know if that thing is real?"



I've redirected some of my extreme stress over the Gulf oil spill by giving some extra thought to the magic and beauty of the creatures that may be affected. In doing so, I discovered some interesting information on one of my favorites from childhood...the fiddler crab. I never visited coastal areas as a child without gathering a few of these fellows up and attempting to make them into pets. I was fascinated by them then, and in fact, this fascination continues today. If I visit a place with large numbers of them (like Huntington Beach marsh) I can sit for hours watching them work and "fiddle". Australian National University has been conducting new research on these crabs and has found that the male of some species of fiddlers are a little dishonest when displaying their favorite attribute, their big claw. It seems size does matter in the fiddler world. As most people know who have ever seen these little crabs, the male has one mammoth claw which he uses for two important male activities- fighting and mating. The large claw impresses the girls and also sends a signal to other males about a man-crab's fighting ability. Males sometimes lose their huge claw in battle, but don't be alarmed, they have the ability to regrow another to take its place. What researchers have recently discovered is that some crabs regrow a "fake" claw...it's big, but is in fact weak, puny, and lacking teeth. Luckily, other males don't know it's a fake and it gets the job done by bluffing, and rarely has to be actually tested in another fight. This fake claw can be grown more quickly and without as much energy needed for the real thing. This fakery falls under the term of dishonest signaling in the animal world, an important animal ability that is hard to study because of the difficulty in detection. It has also been discovered that some fiddlers who lose their big claw have the ability to make their remaining small claw grow into Mr. Big, taking less energy than would be needed to grow a big claw from scratch. They regrow a smaller, less energy consuming small claw where the previous one was lost. Big claws make quite an impression on the fiddler ladies and so does the size and design of the male's hole-in-the-mud burrow. A female fiddler checks out over a hundred potential mates and their abodes before making her choice. Most other animals find sampling a few potential mates to be sufficient because search costs override the benefits of lengthy searches. A man can't afford to scurry around with big claw envy in the fiddler world. The ladies are checking out all potentials and their qualifications before choosing their mates.
Here is an animal that can not only rejuvenate a body part, but can choose whether it is beneficial to grow the real thing or substitute it with a quick-fix lower quality model. Don't you think it may be important to protect these magical creatures, if not for the simple appreciation of them, then for the potential they may hold in research that may be beneficial for mankind? What might we be losing, beside the obvious beauty, if we neglect and lose coastal species? Could this animal possibly hold the secrets that can teach us not only how to regenerate a body part, but also how to control the quality of the part's attributes depending on the body's needs? I just had to have a back molar extracted due to root resorption. What if I could regrow a tooth rather than get a fake implant... and what if I could specify the quality of the tooth based on the number of years it needs to last and on how visible it may be? Sounds like magic, but these guys are doing just that. Who knows which seemingly insignificant plants or animals may hold answers which could change mankind's future.

Nearly 40 years after a fuel spill on the beaches of Cape Cod, scientists are finding chronic, lingering effects on the marshes and wildlife there. Fiddler crabs play an important role in marsh health by aerating the marsh soil, thus preventing the growth of dangerous bacteria. If they don't perform this job, the natural balance is disturbed, affecting all marsh inhabitants. In the oil spill area of Cape Cod, the fiddlers travel down to the layer where the oil still lies, then stop, unable to do their important duty....let's hope the Gulf spill can be stopped soon.