Sonya is pregnant!!!! Ask me anything!

[opihimoimoi]

My Mangrove Crab is "hapai". Noticed her condition 6 days ago. Eggs were bright orange. Notified State of Hawaii Crab expert of willingness to collaborate with sharing of eggs/zoea. Yesterday he came to visit and checkup.

Eggs now brown/gray in color indicating emminent hatching(est 48 to 72 hours. Size of clutch indicates approx 2 to 3.5 million eggs.
Today, she will be moved to a 27 ton tank. About 8,000 gallons. Plans include innoculating tank with microfauna from filimentous algae and supplementing with prepared food from Zeigler Corp.

Come in 18 months, we eat crabs.

[GOPisEvil]

1. 2 to 3.5 million eggs????

:wow:

What's the survival rate?

[opihimoimoi]

3. Past trial runs by the State resulted in a 40 % up to the megalop stage(21

days). from there to 1.5 lbs is anyones guess. 18 months is the est time to harvest.

[GOPisEvil]

4. Wow!

That's a lotta crab. I've got a great recipe for crab and cream cheese dip when the time comes. :9

[opihimoimoi]

11. Hopefully I get a decent survival rate., it will take 18 months to find

out , lol

[La_Serpiente]

2. Oh my goodness, you're in Hawai and it's this late?

Well, I am in Hawaii also. I noticed some of the Hawaiian words you used.

[opihimoimoi]

6. What?? Its only 3:55 and I am nervous as a prenant hen

Whea you stay? I iz in Kaneohe. on the Pond.

[La_Serpiente]

12. Eh sleeping opihi

I am in Manoa.

[opihimoimoi]

15. Manoa??? Shit, das is right around the corner from me. about 30

min or less to yo house. You guys lost a good restuarant in CASTANOLAS when he moved to Waikiki

[GOPisEvil]

23. Former Hawaiian here!

1977-80, Hickam AFB, right by the Hawaiian Airlines hangars. They crank those loud-ass things up early in the morning!

I miss the brunches at The Royal Hawaiian. :9 I need to go back for a visit.

[opihimoimoi]

31. email me, come, we go eat crabs.

or fish and poi, whatever fits your taste buds. LOL

[REP]

5. You're Going to Eat Your Babies???

Sure, they're delicious, but ...

[opihimoimoi]

7. Pass the wasabi

they are onolicious

[Maddy McCall]

8. Wait...I have some questions...

Do you raise crabs? Is Sonya a pet? Are you a biologist with an aquarium--is that how you have access to a huge tank?

This is a very informative thread...please tell us more details!

:hi:

[Maddy McCall]

9. And who's the daddy?

Is he your's too? How did she become pregnant? Naturally? Insemination?

[opihimoimoi]

14. Have 3 Samoan Crabs, thats their local names. Mangrove Crabs

is their common name.

Currently in research for edible algae but were given these crabs for another project. Sonya was not bred here, came hapai to me. I am not the daddy. LOL.

[Zomby Woof]

10. naming them all will be tough!

:o

[opihimoimoi]

13. LOL, how to name the survivors will be a task for sure.

a good portion will be named for the Zomby

[Zomby Woof]

16. woohoo!

ZombyCrab! :D

[opihimoimoi]

17. Start Scratching

[Maddy McCall]

18. How big are Samoan Crabs? Pictures?

Are they hand-size? Head size?

Do you have any photos?

[toolfan]

19. I found this one

[Maddy McCall]

20. I hate to say it, but...

YUM YUM!!

LOL :-)

[opihimoimoi]

22. Das iz her, size of pinchers in relation to body indicates Female.

these guys are onolicious when steamed or in saladas

[opihimoimoi]

21. Sorry, unable to post pics. Use google, mangrove crabs.

they get up to 20 plus lbs(10 kilos). Pincers larger than your fore arms, caprace longer than 12 inches.

[Maddy McCall]

24. My goodness!

With 2 million of those, you could feed everyone in Hawaii, eh?

[opihimoimoi]

27. Gonna be one huge mother of all CRAB LUAUs

[SoCalDem]

25. You are gonna eat Sonya's babies??? You CAD

:)

[opihimoimoi]

28. Well, dozzer, they not gonna be babies when we eat them, they gonna be big

crabs, lol.

[davsand]

26. Opi has cra-abs! Opi has cra-abs!

And it sounds like a BUNCH!! Congrats on the impending "fatherhood"!

Laura

[opihimoimoi]

29. Hey, The Stranger!! Hi there laura, long time.....

Yep, should all go right, we gonna get a bunch of cra aaabbs.

Mean time, I go a lot of work to do, drain main tank, clean out predators, install filters, etc

[rasputin1952]

30. LOL...busy new dad, huh?...

Hope a lot of them survivie. But if they are in a tank, most natural predators will be out of the picture...you may need a much larger tank!

:hi: Opi!

[opihimoimoi]

32. I have to fret about disdeases too. Predators I can deal with but its the

diseases I gatta worry about.

I got a 3 acre pond to work with too. A lot of the extra babies will be siphoned into the pond when they arer 20 to 30 days old. This should be interesting.

[rasputin1952]

33. At 20-30 days, they can't be that big...

You've got your hands full!

:bounce:

[opihimoimoi]

34. at 20 days, they be tiny creatures known as Megalops. at this stage they

go from the swimming stage(zoea) to the "clinging stage" where they cling to algae, walls, etc. after 2 or 3 weeks, it the juvinal stage where they gravitate to the bethnic zone, the bottom, and thats where they stay for the rest of their crabby lives.

the meat of this crab is one of the best in the world. taste wise. texture wise. Smell wise, ITS ALL GOOD.

Come, we go eat crabs. lol

[Rabrrrrrr]

35. Congratulations!

Just makes me happy my sister didn't have 3.5 million children at a shot.

I can't wait for the crab luau! Nui ono bra!

if they all grow up, you have 70 million pounds of crab! You;ll have to call out to Archae in WI to send you a shitload of butter.

[proud patriot]

36. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

You keep tempting me with food ...Baaaaaaaaaaad
Very Baaaaaaaaad

[opihimoimoi]

37. Crab salada, crab soup, crab omelette, crabmeat and mushrooms.

fried rice w crabmeat, crabmeat with water chestnuts/shitake muyshrooms, crabmeat with real butter, crab/avacado sandwich, crab under glass, smoked crabmeat, roasted crabmeat, crab sushi,

I can hardly wait.