Crabs at Tolmie State Park

On Saturday when our family went to Tolmie State Park near Olympia, WA, we saw some crabs! We saw many cute little crabs when we looked under the rocks on the beach and a beautiful, large, red crab crawling sideways through the water and seaweed.  One of my favorite memories from when I was little is of going to a beach near our house that had little crabs under the rocks, so I felt excited to be able to find little crabs under the rocks at Tolmie State Park and introduce my children to them.

The little crabs have great camouflage.  Here are some pictures where you can see how well they blend in with their surroundings. Can you find the crab in each picture?

Isn't this a neat crab with the green coloring on it? 

My son took this picture:

We enjoyed gently holding the small crabs:

The large red crab was more intimidating, to say the least. We watched him from a distance!  He was such a gorgeous red color, and he certainly didn't blend in with his surroundings like the little crabs did.  I felt bad that he was so covered with seaweed. My children pointed out that it was good camouflage for him, though! I think he might be a red rock crab.

Here's a great picture my son took of one of the crab's pincers:

Resources

Crabs on Enchanted Learning.com
Sea Shell Macaroni Crabs (and other fun under the sea crafts!)