Aderonke Omolara Lawal-Are, a Professor of Fisheries, has enjoined Nigerians to eat crabs always to increase their protein levels.

Prof. Lawal-Aware gave the advice while delivering the 17th Inaugural Lecture for the University of Lagos 2023/2024 Academic Session.

At the inaugural lecture entitled, “The Carcinologist Expedition: Decoding the Mysteries of Coastal Explorers,” the Carcinologist extraordinaire noted that crabs are the cheapest of all shellfishes and a major source of nutritious food, especially for adults who should not eat so much red meat.

Lawal-Are took the audience on an expedition into the world of shellfish in Fisheries Biology, noting how the University of Lagos, which is located by the Lagos Lagoon, is very suitable for the discipline and the development of programmes in Marine Biology and Fisheries.

She provided insights into the role of a Carcinologist in studying crabs and other crustaceans and how these experts have helped chronicle the tales of survival and adaptation in the multi-faceted lives of crabs as mysterious explorers and silent architects in coastal ecosystem engineering.

Going down memory lane on the history of man’s interest in crabs, Professor Lawal-Are explained that crabs, in the zodiac sign “cancer” for people born between June 21 and July 22, symbolise rebirth and the power to drive emotions and intuition, saying Astrologers believe that humans within the cancer zodiac have a tight hold on what they love and often have trouble letting go, just like crabs.

She further explained the socio-economic perspectives and the important role of crabs in everyday life including sports. She exemplified her assertion with the lagoon land crabs, Cardiosoma armatum, predominantly found along the shores of UNILAG Lagoon waterfront, which served as the official mascot, KADDI, of the NUGA 2022 hosted by UNILAG.

Determined to decode some of the mysteries of these coastal dwellers, Professor Lawal-Are clarified that crabs’ aquatic environments and adaptations to navigation make eyebrows less critical for their survival than other animals living in different environments. To buttress this point, she alluded to the Yorùbá saying that “Ení bá fee wo ‘isejú akàn, á peeléti omi”, which translates to “He who waits for the blinking of a crab will wait in perpetuity.”

The Professor of Fisheries highlighted her research contributions and findings and intimated the gathering of her team’s research findings in DNA Bar Coding of Marine Fishes from Nigeria using the CO1 region. She elucidated that the findings have provided baseline data for molecular identification of Nigerian marine fishes. This includes a deposition of 18 marine fish species comprising 30 individuals identified based on CO1 region on GenBank and BOLD database.

Professor Lawal-Are made several other recommendations aside from eating crabs every other day. These include:

The government should ensure the enforcement of regulations concerning water quality measures, underwater grass restoration, improvement of awareness and capacities of local communities; and developing a co-management model to protect and harvest local natural resources sustainably.

The conversion of mangrove areas to living areas and for industrialisation should be discouraged and necessary EIA should be done, approved, and implemented before any distortion in the mangrove community as these are major threats to the distribution, diversity, and abundance of most crab species.

There should be a close area policy on the Lagos Lagoon – the sanctuary or “nursing ground” of the crabs – in May. This would give room for the full maturity, conservation, and provision of a healthy habitat for crabs to grow. It would also ensure sustainable populations for the future.

The government should have a closed season in the dry months of December to April when fecund females are migrating back to areas of high salinity and releasing larvae to allow them grow and develop adequately. Protecting these crabs, particularly females and their eggs, remains an important part of crab conservation efforts.

The mariculture of crabs should be encouraged and embraced for the lagoon crabs as they develop in different salinity concentrations. This would promote urban food security through cultivable crab farming. The mariculture will also allow for the protection of crabs during the molting stage to find a haven to hibernate and be free from cannibalism during the period of soft stage as the culture of crabs in crabariums to adult size has been very difficult.

There is a need for huge funding from government, institutions, and funding agencies for the culture of lagoon crabs in Nigeria as it is very capital intensive primarily because for a complete cycle of crab production, there must be a simulation of two environments (sea and estuary). Thus, the purchase of the necessary equipment for these purposes is huge and the manpower.