Kicking off their third meeting of the new year, Anatomy & Dissection Club met on Friday, March 13, to dissect blue crabs, fitting the officers’ monthly theme of ‘Under the Sea’. Members had the opportunity to dissect alongside learning the anatomy and physiology of blue crabs through slides and video demonstrations. 

“[Today’s meeting] was really fun, but it was a little more complex than the other ones we’ve done before,” Ashka Rajbhandari ‘28 said. “But it was pretty easy to follow along with the videos and the resources they gave us. I loved this dissection.”

In the month of February, members had dissected rats. In an interesting twist this month, officers expanded the variety of animals dissected, thus choosing the blue crab. This was the club’s second underwater species dissection of the school year,following squid dissections in November and December.

“Some key takeaways [going into this meeting] were how the [crab’s] anatomy was different from other normal mammals and land animals,” Anatomy & Dissection Treasurer Lucas Casco-Aires Gunz ‘27 said. “It was fascinating to see the [crab’s] different organs and muscles and how they move. It was a more diverse [dissection] compared to what most of the members have done in the past.”

As the school year progresses, club officers aim to increase the size of the organism with each meeting, with the biggest dissection coming up in April. The club preorders specimens a month or two in advance through Carolina Biological Supply. Animals are contained in formaldehyde derivatives to keep them intact and readily available for dissection. Through club dues paid at the start of the year, the officer team is able to allocate that money for buying the animals.

“The preparation that goes into this meeting is almost the same as every meeting, as we usually make the slides and make the attendance form,” Casco-Aires Gunz said. “[A month prior] we pick the organism, order it online, and then confirm with Mr. [Eric] Scheiber. If everything checks out, then we go ahead and order it. We usually make the slides and do the research, so for the blue crabs, we pretty much did the same thing.”

The crab was a new challenge as students had to dissect past the tough shell and skin. Since this was the club’s second aquatic dissection and first crab dissection of the year, March’s meeting was a learning curb for everyone.

“We went [into the dissection] with a great mindset because we knew crabs were going to be a challenge, but we did deal with octopus before, so we had prior experience [with aquatic animals],” Benjamin Harvey ‘28 said. “The octopus was pretty easy because it was just [cutting through] skin, but as for the crab, you had to get through the shell. Therefore, it was harder than other dissections.”

Students used scalpels, probes, forceps, and scissors to carry out the dissection. By following along with the slides, students identified internal and external parts of the crab.

“My favorite part [of the dissection] was [when] we found some gills, and
that was pretty cool because we’ve never seen gills before,” Harvey said. “Then also we pulled the eyeballs out, and overall it was pretty fun and very interesting.”

Despite the increase in difficulty, students found learning enrichment within the dissection, providing them with an invaluable hands-on opportunity to learn about animal anatomy and proper dissection procedures. The club will host their next dissection on Friday, April 10.

“I really enjoy dissecting animals as I get to learn more about them,” Aarna Kruthivemti ‘29 said. “It helps to have practice doing it, especially for future classes where I will be required to dissect something, but I will have more prior knowledge since I’m in this club.”