“Come look at this! They’re really blue!” A UD student beckoned her friend to the bucket housing “Billy Blue” – our live blue crab on display at Coast Day 2024 – and his pet snail. The entire Birkenbach-Oremus Lab participated in the annual event in Lewes, DE, helping kids and adults alike through maze activities illustrating the crab life cycle within the Delaware Bay. While many visitors to our table were seasoned crab catchers, others refused to work so hard for so little meat. All left knowing how to tell male and female crabs apart based on their undersides (“Washington monument” versus “Capitol Hill”) and claw coloring (“the female paints her nails”), and PhD candidate Seleni Cruz did a fantastic job explaining her Sea Grant-funded research to inquisitive passersby. We enjoyed the lovely weather and had fun both teaching and learning about our local marine environment!