South Canterbury Museum are thrilled to host a temporary interactive exhibition about crustaceans from a collaboration of Niwa and Te Papa.

Crabs, shrimps, lobsters, barnacles, slater and other crustaceans will be in the centre of the museum floor until South Canterbury Anniversary Weekend

The interactive exhibition Mawhiti Tino Rawe: Clever Crustaceans was in display at Te Papa in 2023. Now the exhibition has arrived to Timaru for South Cantabrians and further to enjoy.

NIWA scientists Rachael Peart and Kareen Schnabel worked with Te Papa experts to deliver this mini exhibition that showcases the importance and special capabilities of the ‘insects of the sea’.

“Crustaceans are arthropods, which means they have segmented bodies and exoskeletons just like insects, so I love describing them as the ‘insects of the sea’. They are captivating creatures. They have adapted to live an incredible variety of habitats, from beaches and shallows, all the way down to the deepest ocean trenches,” said Dr Schnabel prior to the Te Papa launch in May.

“We are telling the stories of some of our favourite critters. Visitors will learn about the ‘shapeshifter’ koura with its unexpected life stages as a long-distance open-ocean wanderer, the lightning speed with which the native mantis shrimp spears its lunch, the exceptional eyesight of the open ocean Phronima amphipod – which is even being used in techniques to detect cancer in humans – and the radical changes barnacles have undergone to get their kai,” said Dr Schnabel.

South Canterbury Museum Curator for Social History Chris Rapley said the Museum is very excited to have another travelling exhibition from the talented team at Te Papa.

"We had the Giant Squid exhibition from Te Papa not too long ago and Clever Crustaceans, I think, is even better," Chris said

"Personally I think the microscope section where you can zoom in on crustaceans is going to be a big hit with our young explorers."

The exhibition is on until September 23.

Juvenile Lithodes Aotearoa. Photo by NIWA

Part of the  Mawhiti Tino Rawe: Clever Crustaceans exhibition at South Canterbury Museum. Photo by South Canterbury Museum.