Park Offers ‘Crabby Experience’: Summertime Programs at Beach Teach Visitors About Ocean Critters

By Steve Palisin, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Aug. 17–”I catched a crab!” Kyle Huller shouted twice from the fishing pier at Myrtle Beach State Park.

The 5-year-old, on vacation with his family from Columbus, Ohio, had lifted his net trap from between pier pilings Tuesday morning to find a speckled crab partaking in the bait from a shower curtain hook.

All 36 nets were rented out for “A Crabby Experience!” Colleen McCue, a program specialist for the park, helped Amanda Leister, assistant interpretive ranger, identify the bounties people reeled in.

Children sat in a circle for a turn to touch Kyle’s haul, for which McCue asked them to use “crab hands” to be gentle — a thumb and finger like pincers. She said the abdomen tells the gender of the crabs walking the depths offshore. A design resembling the U.S. Capitol blanketed this 3 1/2 -inch-long female’s belly; the Washington Monument would cover a male’s.

Across the pier, Camden-area cousins Jacob Eddings, 15, and John Adian Hinson, 3, caught two kinds of crabs in succession: speckled and blue, both females.

McCue and Jacob measured the blue crab at 5 inches tip to tip.

Pointing out red claws, McCue said that’s another easy way to spot a female.

“We say it looks like nail polish,” she said.

The speckled crab was missing a claw but can grow another after the next shell molts, McCue said.

Leister said this program and other park activities, especially in summertime, give families memorable, hands-on educational outings to learn more about the park as a whole and appreciate all the wildlife. Turtles, sharks, even an environmental awareness game called “Planet Jeopardy” represent a sampling of subjects rangers cover.

“It’s a great way to get kids to realize what this area has to offer,” Leister said.

She and McCue showed the three colorful habitat patches youngsters can earn from attending three classes in the park’s nature center, not only in the summertime but also during the school year, as the park welcomes field trips.

Interpretive Ranger Ann Malys Wilson narrated the inventory Aug. 10 of a loggerhead turtle’s nest that had hatched a few days earlier. Under S.C. Department of Natural Resources permit guidelines, officials assess the hatching success rate of all nests and check for any babies that did make it out oceanbound. A crowd exceeding 100 people split along both sides of a 10-foot-wide clearing to watch a lone straggler hatchling crawl into the surf.

Wilson reminded everyone to help all sea turtles by picking up stray trash on the beach, because turtles can mistake plastic bags for one of their favorite foods.

Among the 36 rented traps dangling on ropes from the pier, two families lured Leister’s attention. Jellyfish, both about the diameter of a bottle of water, made their way into nets.

Leister cautioned everyone against touching jellyfish, but up close, onlookers learn a cannonball jellyfish does not contain stinging cells, unlike the box jellyfish in another net nearby.

Still, crabs lived up to the program’s name for anyone out and about this sunny morning. Tiny spider crabs were seen in the bell of each jellyfish, hitching a free ride as they grow.

“It’s kind of like jellyfish taxi,” McCue said.

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If you go Where — Myrtle Beach State Park, South Kings Highway (U.S. 17 Business), south of Ocean Boulevard and Farrow Parkway, Myrtle Beach

Park admission — $4 for ages 16 and older, $2.50 for S.C. seniors, $1.50 ages 6-15. 238-0874 or www.myrtlebeachsp.com

Programs that meet on fishing pier

“A Crabby Experience!” — 9:30 to about 11 a.m. Tuesdays and Fridays through Aug. 31. From the fishing pier, try to catch a variety of crabs, fish and many other critters in this catch-and-release program. Rent 2-foot-diameter trap nets for $2; a bag of crab bait costs $1.92, including tax, in the pier shop.

“Seine-sational Fun!” — 9:30-10:30 a.m. Wednesdays through Aug. 29. Discover all sorts of fish, crabs, and other critters by helping pull a seine net through the surf zone. Children younger than 13 need adult accompaniment.

In Georgetown County

At Huntington Beach State Park, in Murrells Inlet, “Beachcombing,” 10-11 a.m. Saturday and Aug. 25, starting near north beach parking lot. Search for seashells and other beach bounty during a guided beach walk. Discover the lives of the animals that make seashells, the importance of sand dunes, the ways of the tides, and how to be a responsible beachcomber. Free with park admission — $5 for ages 16 and older, $3.25 for S.C. seniors, $3 ages 6-15. Details at 237-4440.

Contact STEVE PALISIN at 444-1764 or spalisin@thesunnews.com.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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