Crayfish Recycle Themselves with Resourceful Molting

Function

Crayfish enclose their body in hard shells, and as they grow larger they shed their old, smaller shells. This is called molting. Before molting, the crayfish reclaims the calcium from its old shell, making it soft. This softness eases the molting process, and makes it possible to prepare a new shell underneath the old one. Immediately after the old shell is shed, the new shell is still soft because it, too, has little calcium. Within two days, the new shell absorbs the crayfish’s reclaimed calcium that had been stored in its stomach, and hardens, but not before the crayfish greatly expands and reshapes it. The crayfish’s shell is protean armor, hardening or softening as necessary. Crayfish live in fresh water where calcium is scarce, which no doubt has contributed to their resourcefulness in regards to calcium.

Functional Classification

Transfer/Dispose/Circulate:
ReuseCirculation
Form/Organization/System:
Quality changing

Environmental Solution Classification

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Technical Application

Products and Services

Type of Business

Proposals of Applied Technology

The idea of crayfish’s protean armor could be used to develop a material whose rigidity could be freely manipulated, allowing it to be processed, and shaped while soft, then hardened when ready for use. Additionally, the material itself could be reused. Some glass and plastics can be made to behave similarly when heated, but it would be more convenient if the same effect could be achieved by simply adding or removing a specific component. Effective recovery of that component would also become possible.

Proposals of Applied Industry

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