Crabby Dads & Tiny Hitchhikers: Ocean Fatherhood in Action

With Father’s Day coming up we’ve decided to highlight some of the best fatherly fish (and nonfish) under the waves! When you think of fatherhood in the ocean, your mind might wander to the famous seahorse dads or devoted clownfish. But there’s another group of underrated parental heroes cruising the coastal shallows and hiding in tidepools—crabs and other crustaceans.

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That’s right. Crabs. The spiny, sideways-walking, armored critters might not look like tender parents, but some of them carry their young with surprising care. And among them, certain crustacean caregivers go the extra mile to make sure the next generation survives.

Take the blue crab, for instance. Blue crabs carry tens of thousands of fertilized eggs in a bright orange mass called a “sponge” beneath their abdomen. For weeks, they haul that massive cluster around, aerating the eggs by gently moving their swimmerets to ensure each one gets the oxygen it needs. When the time is right, the custodian crab releases the larvae into the water, timing the hatch with tides and moon phases so the babies have the best chance of survival.

In some species, male amphipods, tiny, shrimp-like bugs that cling to seaweed, have been known to carry developing eggs in brood pouches, guarding them with their tiny claws from predators and environmental threats.

This is the unsung, gritty side of ocean parenting. No thanks. No fanfare. Just sheer, instinctual dedication to protecting new life in a world full of danger.

And that’s why, in honor of the holiday closing in, we’re giving a salty little cheer to the parental crustaceans of the sea. These unsung guardians remind us that love, protection, and survival often come in small, shell-covered packages, and how even crotchety crabs are crucial to maintaining an ecological equilibrium living under the waves.

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