~ WACKY WEDNESDAY ~ July 29, 2015 ~ (Previously entitled QOT...W) ~ "WACKIEST CRAB" ~

~ WACKY WEDNESDAY ~ July 29, 2015 ~ (Previously entitled QOT...W) ~ "WACKIEST CRAB" ~ A few years ago, my daughter, Caitlin (@likeotters), introduced me to the television show "Deadliest Catch." It instantly became and remains one of my top favourite shows.

In case you're not familiar with the show, "Deadliest Catch," follows the working (and sometimes personal) lives of captains and crew members of several boats that fish for crab ~ King Crab in October, and Opilio (snow crab or opies) in January in the Alaskan crab fishery ~ and the deadly hazards that they face each and every time they journey out into the Bearing Sea.

I especially like the spinoff shows, "After the Catch", and the "The Bait." (Although I'm not a huge fan of one spinoff show, "On Deck", since there seems to me to be a lot of repetition of footage from the previous episode, with minimal "On Deck Extended Footage"). 

I am however a huge fan of "The Bait" which is hosted by the main captains and includes segments such as "The Hot Seat", where one captain is "grilled" and taken to task about his actions by the other captains; "Captain to Captain," where a captain of another sort (ie: weather, marine animals, the Coast Guard, etc.) are brought in to discuss how their jobs relate to and impact the crab fishery; and "Play Catch" which is usually a competition of some sort between captains (during last nights episode, "Play Catch" pitted brothers Jonathan and Andy Hillstrand against co-captains Josh Harris and Casey McMann in a game of "how well do you know your partner"). 

Those are just a few of the things that make "The Bait" such a great show! Another regular feature of "The Bait" that I really enjoy is "The Fourtner Report," in which favourite likeable "super deckhand" of the "Time Bandit," Mike Fourtner, provides inside scoops, explanations and examples of the ins and outs of crab fishing (showing how knots are tied, how to fix holes in the pots, the differences between the two main crabs they fish for, etc.). 

I especially like this segment because a lot of interesting things are explained about crab fishing that most people wouldn't ever know unless they were in the business. During one of last seasons "Fourtner Report"s, the hand gestures used to indicate to the captain how many crab were in a pot were explained. 

For the life of me, I couldn't remember what the explanation was. Nor could I find one online, despite over an hours worth of searching our so called "information highway". However, I now have it on very good authority, (THANKS Josh), that the explanation or formula for the hand signals used represent the crab count is as simple as "five plus however many fingers are held sideways". 

For example, God forbid, but should there only be 17 crab in a pot, the deckhand would hold up one hand, fingers pointed toward the sky and flash that to the captain 2 times (5 + 5 = 10), then they would hold two fingers pointed sideways, representing the number 7. Meaning a total crab count of 10 + 7 = 17.

[I'm pretty sure that's right, but any errors are mine poor, sucky math skills and not the fault of Josh's explanation]!

A big part of my enjoyment in watching "Deadliest Catch", is that is gives Caitlin and I an opportunity to not only spend time together, but to bond over a common interest. 

I know that none of that is "wacky", unless you count my mad math skills, which are, simply put, "whacked", and that you're probably wondering what exactly about this post qualifies it for my "Wacky Wednesday" article.

Well, on last nights "The Bait", two guests happened to be cheerleaders from the Seattle Seahawks football team. In honour of there visit, Mike Fourtner introduced us to a very peculiar crab, the Lybia, or more commonly called, the "Boxer Crab".

If you look at the photo, you'll see that at the end of each claw, the Boxer Crab is holding what looks like pom-poms. The pom-poms are really sea anemone that the crabs carry around as a defence mechanism. Carrying around these anemones are not crucial to their survival, and the Boxer Crab has been known to substitute sea sponges and or corals in place of the three various types of anemones that they bond with.

So there you have it, the weird and wacky post for this week.

What is the strangest animal you have ever seen?

Thanks for stopping by, check back next week for a (hopefully) far more wacky post!

As always, your continued interest, support, encouragement and inspiration is valued more than you could possibly know!

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