Fun Facts About Crabs

Fun Facts About Crabs

Crabs belong to a large group of animals called crustaceans. Crustaceans can be found on your local beach, or thousands of meters below the sea! They are very different from humans because they have an exoskeleton. This means that their skeleton is on the outside of their body. Crabs also have ten ‘legs’, most of them are used for walking, while others can be used for swimming and nipping. Having a flat body helps some crabs hide under rocks from predators like fish and seagulls. 

Crabs breath using gills, so they have to live by the water. Some crabs spend their entire life in water, others live on land. As long as their gills are damp, they can survive. 

1. America has more varieties of crabs than anywhere else in the world. The smallest crabs are the pea crab, which live inside oyster shells, and can be less than 1.5mm. The largest crab is the Japanese spider crab, which can reach 12 feet from leg tip to leg tip.

2. There are crab in 25 U.S. states, and you can crab (catch crab) in all of them.

3. A Stone crab’s claws make up more than half its body weight. Only the claws of the Stone crab are eaten. Fisherman twist off one claw and return the crab to the sea where the crab will regenerate its claw within 18 months.

4. Alaskan king crab fishing is ranked number 1 as the world’s most dangerous profession.

5. America’s best selling crab is the blue crab from the East Coast. It is followed by the West Coast Dungeness Crab, king crab from Alaska and Florida stone crabs.

6. The Dungeness crab’s name comes from the town of the same name on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

7. Only male Dungeness may be kept in the U.S. In 1897 possession and sale of female Dungeness was prohibited. A large female Dungeness crab can carry 2.5 million eggs.

8. The oldest crab industry in the United States is the blue crab industry of the Chesapeake Bay area, dating back to the early 1600’s.

9. Blue crabs are excellent and efficient swimmers: A tagged blue crab was recorded swimming 35 miles in 48 hours.

10. While the female blue crab is in her molted state, the male blue crab will protect her. The female, however, shows no such mercy and will devour any male that comes along her way.

11. Crab is good for you: A 3 ½ ounce serving of crab has 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 a good source of selenium, a trace element that works as an antioxidant, detoxifying carcinogenic substances. 

12. Though on the menu of many Chinese restaurants, Crab Rangoon is actually a creation of a chef at Trader Vic’s in the 1950s.

13. Contrary to popular belief, crabs are not scavengers. Their diet mainly consists of live food such as clams, mussels, shrimp and small fish. Crabs also eat vegetation such as eel grass and sea lettuce.

14. Hermit crabs are nocturnal scavengers that will eat almost anything. Hermit crabs live in large groups in the wild and do best in groups of three or more.  They were the labeled “hermit” because of the shell they carry on their back that they hide  in when sensing danger.

15. The fishery for brown crab (Cancer pagurus) also known as edible crab or common crab, is one of the most valuable in Ireland.

16. The brown crab is usually reddish-brown above with a characteristic pie-crust edge to the shell, also referred to as the carapace. The underside of the body ranges from pale yellow to light brown and the pincers of the claws are tipped black.

17. Crabs can be found in all oceans of the world. 

18. Crabs can range from the size of a pea to the size of a motorcycle.

19. Crabs are invertebrates.  They lack a spine and have a hard exoskeleton.

20. Most crabs are omnivores.  They feed on anything they can find! 

21. A baby crab goes through metamorphosis like a butterfly does.