Female blue crab's eyes play a role in growing body parts that enable the crabs to mate and reproduce, according to researchers at the University of Maryland's Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET). It has been known that the crabs' eyeballs produce hormones responsible for the growth and development for a crab from adolescence to adulthood, but this new find is noteworthy for its necessity in crab motherhood.
Image: Scientists at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology in Maryland recently discovered a new hormone in those eyestalks responsible for forming body parts that make it possible for female crabs to mate and raise young. Credit: Cheryl Nemazie, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
