Protecting the 'Beautiful, Savory Swimmer'

Richard Forward's Blue Crab Research Crucial to Saving Habitats and to Setting Sustainable Catch Limits p.5

   “In particular, his work has been instrumental in establishing the concept of tidal stream transport, where organisms are able to position themselves in the water column to ride water currents in favorable directions during part of the tide, while avoiding being swept away when the tide reverses,” Luettich says.

  Forward’s studies of crab sensory capabilities and migratory behaviors are funded by the National Science Foundation. His research on postlarvae settlement is funded by North Carolina Sea Grant.

  Forward’s fascination with crustaceans began as a boy on the beaches near his family’s home in San Diego. “Crabs played a role in my life as all sea animals do when you spend a lot of time at the shore,” he recalls. “You’re aware of them. You’re always playing with them.”

  Working with hermit crabs as an undergraduate at Stanford University deepened his interest in marine animals and led him to pursue a doctoral degree in invertebrate physiology and behavior at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Following postdoctoral work on the visual capabilities of marine animals at Yale University, he joined the Duke faculty in 1971.

  Today, after more than 30 years, his enthusiasm for his field of study remains undimmed.

  “Crabs are fascinating animals, very surprising, very challenging,” he says, as he directs a visitor’s attention to two large paintings of crabs by his wife, artist Meg Forward, that hang on his office walls. “We’re still refining what we know about them.”

Tim Lucas is the Nicholas School’s national media relations and marketing specialist.

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