Spider Crab Watch

In June 2023, we released our latest report with the accompanying highlight video below, which focus on the findings of our 2022 work and summarises our brand new approach of combining traditional science (work led by Assoc. Professor Daniel Ierodiaconou) and citizen science (both iNaturalist and Zooniverse).

So far, thanks to the classifications on Zooniverse, we were able to confirm the absence of spider crab aggregations in 2022 at Rye and Blairgowrie piers (Bunurong Country, Mornington Peninsula) where they have often been sighted in the past, and we were able to quantify how long the spider crab gathering at St Leonards (Wathaurong Country, Bellarine Peninsula) lasted (from the 21st May until the 22nd June 2022). The classifications helped us determine the predators and other species present in the environment during spider crab gatherings (work in progress).