Shannon Point

I saw a gumbo chitin on the beach when we went to look at the tide pools, and it was crazy to see how big they can get! I had no idea that they get this large since all the other chitin we have seen were tiny. It wasn't doing much, just gripping onto a rock, trying to stay moist during low tide. I dont know a whole lot about chitin, so i would be interested to learn more about its role, but id assume that it helps keep populations in check, when it feeds. The coolest thing that i saw at Shannon Point was most certainly during the boat trip. We got one of the purple completely full of shrimp. I have never seen so many shrimp in one place! This trip really showed me how large some animals can get, and how much life we really have in the northwest. One question I have is now how do the Gumbo chitin interact with the other life near them?