The Breeeze Janruary 2020

Oh yes we do...
By Amber Hester Kuehn
It was time to watch the sunset, but everyone was
busy eating blue crabs. My 10 year old patience
threshold was maxed after picking just a couple of
crabs, so I skipped to the bluff quickly as the sun
touched the trees across the river. Mema always
suggested that we shouldn’t miss the sunset. I
noticed something swimming from the marsh,
and across the river. It was moving too fast to be a
crab trap illusion and was making way against the
outgoing tide. It had a dark round head…not an
alligator, and too big to be a cormorant. As it got
closer, it disappeared like a Slinky® when it heard
me shout “What is that?!” It surfaced at the end of
the floating dock, then retreated underneath.
Of course, there was no reaction from the screen
house where the regular neighborhood attendees
were gathered. And my mom responded with the
feminine southern response: “Alright honey, be
right there,” which meant that no one was coming.
I deduced all environmental conundrums on my own
which makes for some interesting explanations.
Like, I assumed that oysters grew branches to make
a cluster and blue crabs consumed raw chicken
through their pinchers. Not until I finished graduate
school, would I be able to tell you that oyster shells
recruit free swimming spats (oyster larva) and blue
crabs had mouth parts.
Another adult realization was that the “shelly
poop” on the dock actually belongs to a semiaquatic
mammal called a river otter that ingests
crustaceans, marine invertebrates with calcareous
shells. I digress.
After an investigation…at night, on the floating
dock, barefoot, no life jacket, unaccompanied by an
adult, I realized that it must live in the plastic hollow
float under the wooden deck. As I hung my ponytail
over, looking into the dark water. It occurred to
me, that this may explain the “missing minnow
scenario” that I got blamed for. I was pretty sure
that minnows didn’t “free Willy” over the edge of
the bait box that I accidentally left open.
River otters are most active dusk to dawn, and I’ve
actually seen more mink than otters on the mud flat
over the years. But, oh yes we do have otters in the
May River.
11