blue crab

Learn fun and interesting facts about all varieties of crab, from East Coast Blue Crab to West Coast Dungeness Crab. Mention these anywhere from the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland to the town of Dungeness, in Washington State or at your next crab dinner party, and you are sure to spark lively conversation and impress even the crabbiest experts!

Fun Facts:

• America has more varieties of crabs than anywhere else in the world!
• Crabs do not hibernate; rather they lie dormant for the long winter (usually from November through May.)
• Blue crabs love to lie in mud. When a predator comes they can camouflage themselves in it to escape!
• Male crabs with one large claw use this to attract females. This claw is not used for defense or to attack, but to lure the females for mating purposes.
• Crabs’ teeth are in their stomachs!
• If a crab loses a limb, it will grow back. In fact, only the claws of the Stone Crab are eaten. So, if a crabber catches a Stone crab he/she will tear off the claws and throw the rest of the crab back to sea where it will regenerate the claws within 18 months.
• America’s best selling crab is the blue crab from the East Coast, followed by the West Coast Dungeness crab, King Crab from Alaska and Florida Stone Crabs.
• A single Alaskan king crab can yield over 6 pounds of meat. They can measure up to a 6-foot leg span.
• The blue crab’s shedding process is repeated up to 25 times during a crab’s lifetime.
• While the female blue crab is in her molted state (soft shell crab), the male blue crab will protect her. The female however, will devour any male that comes along her way.
• Blue crab is the only crab that is eaten in both the hard and soft-shell form.
• Only male Dungeness may be kept. This is true throughout the United States. In 1897 possession and sale of female Dungeness was prohibited.
• A tagged blue crab was recorded swimming 35 miles in 48 hours!
• Crab is good for you! A 3-½ ounce serving is 110 calories and just 1.2 grams of fat. Crab is also an excellent source of chromium, which helps raise the levels of HDL (good cholesterol.) And, crab contains antioxidants and detoxifying substances.

The Chesapeake Bay, in Maryland, is where it all began. “Chesapeake” is a Susquehanock word meaning “great shellfish bay.” For centuries many people have enjoyed the bounty of blue crab, along with other delicious forms of seafood, found in the Bay.

Native Americans were the first to discover the bounty provided by the blue crab crustaceans in the great bay. Several European settlers stake claim to first discovering this place to catch crab. But, undoubtedly native people led European settlers to this fine place for hunting, fishing and crabbing.

Maryland Blue crabs have been caught and harvested commercially in the Chesapeake Bay area since the mid 1800s. Now, these crabs are harvested from the mid-Atlantic region (from New York to North Carolina) to Florida and several of the Gulf states, all the way to Texas. Pre-settlement blue crabs were harvested for subsistence living. There is evidence suggesting that Native Americans used spears to catch crabs in shallow water and that they may have fashioned simple traps to gig crab. During colonial times, many people survived based solely on their ability to catch crab in this region. Records show, as early as 1850, a market for soft-shelled blue crabs on the Eastern Coast of America.

Significant level of consumption fueled the demand for blue crabs in the mid-1800s. The first toothless dredge for harvesting soft-shelled crabs was patented in 1870. During this period, fishermen began using nets to harvest hard-shelled blue crab as well. In the 1870s the evolution of a commercial crabbing industry began to emerge. Railroads permitted rapid shipping of blue crab away from the coast, canning of crabmeat began and wooden boats began replacing fishing lines with scoop nets as means to catch crab. Trotlines were also developed around this time; a long line anchored at both ends with shorter lines, baited to catch crab. Trotlines remained the standard harvesting method through the 1950s and the first crab trap was patented as early as 1926.

The crabbing industry has changed as populations have changed and as the need to be more productive and efficient has risen. For crab fishermen, also known as “watermen,” the benefits of crab harvesting must always be balanced with the need to sustain the dwindling crab population, especially in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Crab harvesting has long been a part of Maryland, Chesapeake Bay and human culture. Harvesting crabs, oysters and fish supports life in the waterfront communities of the Eastern Coast shore. Many people living in these communities could tell you what time of day it is just by the coming and going of the boats in the harbor. This way of life is changing, and in many ways slipping away, due to modern conventions and the evolving bay. Yet the Chesapeake Bay in Crisfield, Maryland, where it all began, is still known as the crab capital of the world.