For many Californians, crab bakes, crab cakes and crab feeds are traditional holiday fare.

But the need to protect humpback whales in California’s coastal waters combined with widespread domoic acid contamination along the North Coast have once again put the brakes on the Dungeness commercial fishery and parts of the recreational fishery this fall.

Consuming shellfish contaminated with domoic acid can cause illness and death.

Last week, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced it was delaying the opening of commercial crab fishing statewide from Nov. 1 to Jan. 1.

New state regulations require the closure of the fishery if three or more humpback whales are confirmed to have been entangled in crab gear during the calendar year. So far in 2025, four whales have been entangled in commercial Dungeness crab fishery ropes and lines. An additional four humpbacks have been snared in gear that officials suspected but could not confirm was for crab fishing.

Dungeness crabs are generally caught in coastal waters north of San Francisco.

In 2024, a record number of whales in U.S. waters were caught in fishing gear, with California taking the top spot, accounting for roughly 25% of the 95 confirmed incidents.

Entanglements are just one of many threats facing whales worldwide. Earlier this year, 21 gray whales died in Bay Area waters, mostly after getting struck by ships. The animals are increasingly stressed from changes in food availability, shipping traffic, noise pollution, waste discharge, disease and plastic debris, and their ability to avoid and survive these impediments is diminishing.

A delay “is the best course of action for the fishery and the whales,” Oceana’s California Campaign Director and Senior Scientist Geoff Shester said. “The risk that more endangered whales could become entangled in crab gear remains high, so we must redouble our efforts now.”

He said environmentalists and others are hopeful that crab fishers will adapt. New equipment, such as pop-up gear — which uses remote-controlled pop-up balloon devices to bring cages to the surface, rather than hauling them in with lines — appears to be on track for state approval.

“Another year of a delayed commercial Dungeness crab season is incredibly difficult for our fleet and port communities,” Lisa Damrosch, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Assns., said in a joint statement with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. “However, given the current risk assessment process, the commercial fleet supported this outcome as the most practical path forward.”

Recreational crab fishing is set to open on Nov. 1 in most areas. Along the stretch of coast from Gualala to Crescent City, where domoic acid is widespread, there will be no fishery until state health authorities determine that domoic acid no longer is a threat to public health. South of Gualala 100 miles to Point Reyes, health officials have issued an advisory for crabs.

This is the sixth year in a row that the fishery has been delayed as a result of entanglement concerns, according to Ryan Bartling, a scientist with the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. In prior years, before the numerical threshold, the delay was a judgement call.

The first recorded death from West Nile virus this year in L.A. County was confirmed Friday by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

The individual, whose details have been kept anonymous, was hospitalized in the San Fernando Valley for neurological illness caused by the mosquito-borne virus. In Southern California, October is the middle of mosquito season.

Across Los Angeles County, 14 West Nile virus infections have been documented in 2025; half have been in the San Fernando Valley.

L.A. has had an average of 58 West Nile infections per year since 2020, with an average of one death per year, according to data from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

West Nile virus affects around 2,000 Americans a year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Viral infection can have a number of symptoms, with mild illness symptoms consisting of fever, headache, body aches, vomiting, rash or diarrhea, the CDC says.

A more severe and concerning case can cause neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, vision loss, numbness, or paralysis. Officials warn that the effects of severe illness could be permanent or result in death.

In some cases, infection does not cause symptoms.

The California Public Health Department notes that there are a number of species within the Culex mosquito genus, which is a primary carrier of the virus, found throughout Los Angeles County.

The San Fernando Valley area recently suffered from water outages and has, over the last 12 months, consistently experienced below-average rainfall and drought conditions.

In a 2025 study from the National Institutes of Health, research showed that droughts raised risk factors for West Nile virus. Data from more than 50,000 traps revealed that while drought conditions reduced overall mosquito populations and standing bodies of water, it consolidated the infected mosquitos and birds, which also carry the disease, around limited water sources. The result is faster transmission rate among the smaller populations, which go on to infect humans. In the San Fernando Valley, where drought conditions are expect to continue through a dry La Niña season, the reduced water sources may lead to higher infection rates.

To avoid contracting West Nile virus, the CDC recommends reducing outside activities during the daytime, when mosquitos are most active. Officials also say that emptying or replacing containers of standing water (where mosquitos tend to breed), installing window screens, and wearing protective skin coverings or using insect repellent when outside can also reduce exposure.

It’s a crisp night in the rugged mountains above Los Angeles following the first rains of fall.

This is the night of the lustful tarantula — and it’s filled with peril.

Every year, male tarantulas strike out from their burrows in search of a lover. Finding one can be fatal, whether she’s in the mood or not. Females are known to snack on their suitors.

“If the female is not receptive, you better run,” said Rodrigo Monjaraz Ruedas, assistant curator of entomology for the Natural History Museum of L.A. County. “Even if the female is receptive and they mate — after they mate, the male needs to be really fast and sneaky because otherwise the female can also eat the male as well.”

In California, October is typically a prime mating month for the bulky, hirsute spiders. Natural cues are key, with autumn’s initial precipitation generally triggering the march. Experts suspect males are following pheromones to hunkered-down females.

While the arachnids inhabit areas such as the Angeles National Forest and Santa Monica Mountains year-round, mating season — when the males are on the move — offers the best opportunity to spot one. It runs from about July through November, and nighttime just after a rain is an ideal time to scout for the eight-legged critters.

All is fair in love and war

A tarantula love act begins with a courtship ritual. That might entail the male tapping on the ground or the female’s web and — if she’s receptive — she’ll respond in kind.

Because of the risk involved, male tarantulas use hook-like structures on their first pair of legs to hold the female during coitus, according to Monjaraz Ruedas. Another set of appendages, called pedipalps, are used to transfer sperm.

A single act can produce hundreds of baby tarantulas — adorably called spiderlings — though many don’t survive in the wild.

Meet your local spiders

There are 10 species of tarantulas roaming the Golden State, including at least two that can be found in L.A. County.

The county’s most common variety is the California ebony tarantula, or Aphonopelma eutylenum, which can range from light beige to their namesake color. The female’s leg span can reach up to five inches.

There’s also the desert-dwelling Aphonopelma iodius, often found in the Mojave.

California is home to more than 1,300 species of spiders, and about 40% of all of the nation’s spiders live in the state. As Monjaraz Ruedas put it, “that’s a lot of species.”

What about those fangs?

Flip around a tarantula so it’s belly up and you’ll be met with sizable fangs.

Like almost all spiders, tarantulas have venom. They use it to eat. However, it doesn’t pose a threat to humans, according to Monjaraz Ruedas, who likened it to the strength of bee venom.

Typically, a spooked tarantula will try to run and hide, said Lisa Gonzalez, program manager of invertebrate living collections at the county Natural History Museum.

“They’re really not very bitey animals,” she said. “And I can say this with confidence because I’ve been working with spiders since I was a little girl.”

But there is another defense mechanism. A spider can flick off irritating hairs from the backside of its abdomen, which feel like fiberglass or minute cactus spines.

A tarantula at the museum named Taco, recently brought out for educational purposes, initiated the behavior after gamely posing for the cameras for a while.

In contrast, some parts of the tarantula feel almost like sable fur.

“They’re soft like kitties,” Gonzalez said.

Pitfalls of city living

A male tarantula crosses a gravel road late in the evening on the Southern Plains Land Trust Heartland Ranch Nature Preserve near Lamar, Colo.

(Helen H. Richardson /MediaNews Group / The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Advertisement

Urbanization poses dangers for local tarantulas during mating season, according to Monjaraz Ruedas. On their quest to find mates, males can drown in backyard pools or get flattened on busy roads.

“But in general mountains represent good habitat for them,” he said, “so they can survive really well in those areas.”

Hankering to see the real deal?

Tarantulas can be spotted in the wild — or, for now, at the Natural History Museum.

Through November, the museum features an open-air spider pavilion, a ticketed exhibit that allows visitors to walk amid hundreds of spiders known as orb weavers and their intricate webs. There are also enclosed habitats with species including tarantulas.