{"id":322,"date":"2015-11-09T20:39:08","date_gmt":"2015-11-09T20:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioimaging\/?p=322"},"modified":"2022-04-13T16:27:04","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T16:27:04","slug":"working-hand-in-glove-to-study-the-mitten-crab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioimaging\/working-hand-in-glove-to-study-the-mitten-crab\/","title":{"rendered":"IN-FOCUS: Imaging the Mitten crab: working hand in glove with the Natural History Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Imaris<\/a>

3D surface-rendered model of appendage (endopod of maxilliped) of Chinese mitten crab larva. Image produced on Zeiss LSM880 confocal and reconstructed using Bitplane Imaris.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n

Last week we undertook some confocal microscopy for the\u00a0National History Museum<\/a>\u00a0to help characterise the arrangement of setae on the larval appendages of the Chinese mitten crab,\u00a0Eriocheir sinesis * (now published, see Kamanli et al, 2017 below)<\/em>. The Mitten crab, so-named because of the tufts of \u2018fur\u2019 on the adult’s claws, is officially listed as one of the World\u2019s most invasive species. The crabs out-compete and prey on native crab species, damage fishing nets and cause significant erosion of riverbanks,\u00a0thus are\u00a0of considerable economic importance. \u00a0They arrived in this country from China in the 1930’s\u00a0via discharge of ballast water from trading ships and are now firmly established in\u00a0many of\u00a0Britain’s waterways.\u00a0The National History Museum is investigating ways of reducing the population of Mitten crabs and this species is\u00a0currently\u00a0under evaluation\u00a0as a potential food source in the UK (so if you can’t beat them, eat them!)<\/p>\n

AJH<\/p>\n

Find out more:<\/h5>\n