The Hunt for Red October the Blue Diamond Shrimp dealer began in earnest as Mark Trail consulted his online resources into the late night. Cherry, feeling a bit neglected, came out of the bedroom to see what could be keeping him up (so to speak). After some friendly encouragement by Cherry for Mark’s project, he decided it was time to pack it in.

The rest of the week focused on Mark consulting with Robbie’s dad, the always dependable Ranger Shaw. Mark expressed his alarm about the shrimp’s “invasive” potential, then implied Ranger Shaw and his wife weren’t keeping a close enough eye on Robbie, as he was able to purchase these shrimp without their knowledge. But Mark was mostly focused on finding the dealer who sold the ornamental shrimp to see what additional troubles the dealer might be engaged in.

Selling the shrimp is not illegal in most states. But selling to minors often is illegal. Owning the shrimp is not illegal. But owners illegally dumping shrimp into the wild is illegal. And there is the business of “other things” the unknown dealer might be involved in. Mark has his work cut out of him, especially if the dealer is out of state, or even out of the country! But what about mitigating the immediate, local problem?

I was hoping that Mark’s costume would at least show eight arms. Humanity, it seems, has a very longstanding fear of spiders, reinforced more recently by those so-bad-they’re good horror movies of the 1950s and mediocre Spiderman movies. In reality, there are only a few species (at least in in the U.S.) that are harmful to humans. In fact, as Mark points out, many spiders are beneficial to humans, owing to their diet of bugs and insects (including the disgusting germ-carrying house fly, which carries over 130 pathogens!). So when you find a spider in your house (and it’s not a black widow or brown recluse), instead of sweeping it away, thank it and leave it alone, because spiders help keep you safe.

Bonus Material. By the way, I happened to run across some YouTube Shorts featuring cosplayer Michael, performing on the YouTube channel, Role Play Riot. Lots of videos there, but he has at least four shorts where he appears as Mark Trail, delivering Sunday nature chats. You can search for “Mark trail presents: science Sundays!” He even uses Jules Rivera’s promotional portrait of the Trump family as a backdrop. Pretty decent impression of Mark.  Here is one link to get you started: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WEKt89E_q8E