Crabs - Appears To Be Steady

[pixiegirl]

Originally posted by jazz lady
It's actually a renewal resource. They catch the crabs, pick the claws off, and return it to the water so it can regenerate the claws.

They're very good, but I still like dungeness better.

It is illegal to take more then one claw. If you get one with only one you have to throw it back. At least that's how it is in GA. There's a huge pier that we frequently get them off of.

 

[pixiegirl]

Originally posted by tatercake
Okay ... I've seen them before; never had 'em or knew what they were called though. I'll add those to the list of things to try. I'm swinging by Thompsons tonight for the stone claws. Hopefully, they'll have some mahi I can toss together too with some of that mango salsa

They have them there? I've never seen them up here anywhere. I know what B and I will be having for our special dinner at home Friday. I mentioned them to him once and he'd never even heard of them.

Funny story. Like I said we catch them in GA; as well as regular (blue) crabs. So my grandma was cooking them and I asked her for some Old Bay. She had no idea what I was talking about. I told her it was seafood seasoning. She'd never heard of it. They have this crappy imitation stuff down there. It's been several years and none of the grocery stores down there sell it. I bring her some every summer when I come down.

 

[jazz lady]

Here's a good resource: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fish/specinfo/crab/crabbro.htm

What do crabs eat?

Crabs will eat almost any vegetable or animal matter. However, they prefer freshly dead or freshly caught food. Sometimes crabs will crush and eat young oysters or clams.

Stone crab harvesting:

Stone crabs are fished near jetties, oyster reefs or other rocky areas just as for blue crabs. Stone crabs have small bodies and only the claws are eaten. To be kept, claws must be two and one-half inches long, measured from the tips of the immovable finger to the first joint. Only one legal size claw may be removed and then the crab must be returned immediately to the water. The claws are prepared in the same manner as blue crab claws.

 

[crabcake]

Originally posted by pixiegirl
They have them there? I've never seen them up here anywhere.

yes, they're in the freezer ... just tell 'em how many you want (lbs) and they'll weigh 'em out for ya. Since they're cooked, you only have to boil them for a few minutes to heat them up. They even give ya the butter for dippin'.

 

[jazz lady]

Another great crab resource - this one specific to the blue crab: http://www.blue-crab.org

Food

Blue crabs are classified as general scavengers, bottom carnivores (eats other animals), detritivores (eats decaying organic matter), and omnivores (eats either other animals or plants). At various stages in the life cycle, blue crabs serve as both prey and as consumers of plankton, benthic macroinvertebrates, fish, plants, mollusks, crustaceans (including other blue crabs), and organic debris. Food is located by a combination of chemoreception (chemical sense) and taction (touch). Blue crabs may play a significant role in the control of benthic populations.

Macroinvertebrates are organisms without backbones (e.g., insect larvae, annelids (leeches), oligochaetes (worms), crustaceans (crabs, crayfish and shrimp), mollusks (clams, oysters and mussels), and gastropods (snails)) and inhabit bottom substrates (e.g., sediments, debris, logs, macrophytes, and filamentous algae.)

Adult Food
Adult blue crabs prefer mollusks such as oysters and hard clams as their primary food sources. The crab uses the tips of its front-most walking legs to probe the bottom for buried bivalves and to manipulate them after they are located. Some other common food items include dead and live fish, crabs (including other blue crabs), shrimp, benthic macroinvertebrates, organic debris, and aquatic plants and associated fauna such as roots, shoots and leaves of sea lettuce, eelgrass, ditch grass, and salt marsh grass. It will also prey on oyster spat, newly set oysters and clams, or young oysters and quahogs if other food is unavailable.

Juvenile Food
Juvenile blue crabs feed mostly on benthic macroinvertebrates, small fish, dead organisms, aquatic vegetation and associated fauna.

Larval Food
Zoeae are phytoplanktivorous and readily consume algae, phytoplankton and zooplankton. Megalope are considered general scavengers, bottom carnivores, detritivores, and omnivores. Megalope are more omnivorous than zoeae and prey upon fish larvae, small shellfish, and aquatic plants.

So Sleuth, they basically eat anything they can find in any way they can.

 

[CMC122]

Blue Crabs

I can't wait to start eating some blue crabs


Has anyone heard if Drift Inn will be opening this year?

 

[itsbob]

Originally posted by IM4Change
Maryland: Blue Crab Population that is

Annapolis, Md. (AP) - Watermen are finding reasons for optimism in Maryland's most recent crab population survey.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources says there's been no overall change in the blue crab estimates, and the number of mature females is about the same as it was a year ago. That's considered good news, because the numbers are better than they were two and three years ago.

The DNR is predicting this year's crab harvest will be between 20 and 25 million pounds - about the same as last year. Because the survey doesn't show a decrease, officials with the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Association say the report is good news.

The numbers are contained in the state's "winter dredge" survey - one of four surveys used to measure the crab population.




Article

I'm doing my share to reduce the population.. last summer would catch a dozen or three every week-end offof our pier!!

 

[sleuth]

Originally posted by jazz lady
Another great crab resource - this one specific to the blue crab: http://www.blue-crab.org



So Sleuth, they basically eat anything they can find in any way they can.

I see that...
And I saw where it said they use their claws to manipulate their food, but do they actually have a mouth? Or do they somehow eat through their claws?

 

[pixiegirl]

Originally posted by sleuth14
I see that...
And I saw where it said they use their claws to manipulate their food, but do they actually have a mouth? Or do they somehow eat through their claws?

They have a mouth. You rip it off when you eat them.

 

[jazz lady]

Originally posted by sleuth14
I see that...
And I saw where it said they use their claws to manipulate their food, but do they actually have a mouth? Or do they somehow eat through their claws?

They don't have what WE term a mouth, but they are mouth parts like a shrimp or lobster.

from blue-crab.org:
The blue crab doesn't have a mouth (or teeth) in which to bite, however people have been known to get blood poisoning from a claw pinch if the the skin is broken (always wear gloves!) As for a crab's mouth, located in the anterior portion of the cephalothorax of the crab are its mouth parts, grouped around the opening of the esophagus. These mouth parts are generally similar to those of shrimps and lobsters. The outermost pair is the third maxillipeds, used for holding food. Under and in front of these are two more pairs of maxillipeds and two pairs of maxillae, also used for holding food, and a pair of mandibles, or jaws, which push the food into the esophagus.

The "mouth" is right above the tips of the two claws on this guy:

 

[sleuth]

hmm... well ain't that just neater than a danny tanner...

 

[dems4me]

Re: Re: Crabs - Appears To Be Steady

Originally posted by sleuth14
I read something a while back that said if that crabs weren't fished for one season in the bay, that they would be back in full force and higher abundance than ever the following season. Anyone know if this is true?

Would it benefit or hurt the crabbing industry to sit out one season? I'm of the mind that if the problem is bad enough, perhaps the crabbing industry should take some short term losses (if they can afford it) to ensure their livelihood for the long-term. :shrug:

I agree that something should be done or a short but yet compromising moratorium put in place. Definitely not an all or nothing scenario. First off, I think they should set a moratorium on catching females and keeping them. There is no size limit as far as I know of to catch and keep a female crab unlike the 5+ inches required to keep a male crab. I have several other ideas such as 1) I think the size limit for peeler crabs should be set at 4 inches or more; 2) I think the rule should be less than a bushel per crabber (just temporarily). Although I can catch up to a bushel and a few people on my boat can also catch a few bushels -- that's way too much crab for me alone or me and my friends to eat. I usually pick and choose and then throw back the smaller ones (albeit legal in size). In addition, I think perhaps it would also help if they made it illegal to keep or possess sponge crabs (the female crab (or male???) carrying the eggs).

I have a friend that works at DNR that told me years ago crabs were much more plentiful in the Bay and the Patuxent until they introduced Rock Fish to the area. He explained that Rock Fish provides more of a sport to fishing and draws crowds, but unfortunately the Rock Fish eats the crab eggs. Don't know if that is correct or not - just what I was told.

Just my two cents on this issue. I'd hate to go a season without being able to catch my own crabs and then have to pay the continually rising cost for a dozen crabs. What do y'all think?? :shrug:

 

[crabcake]

semi-

When I was about 16, we had a house right on the canal in Lewes, and I used to keep one of those metal-type crab catchers in the water. I'd pull it up each afternoon and see what I had. NP (who loves to fish) used to sit out there every day and fish the canal for flounder, but usually only caught oyster crackers.

One day, I pulled my crab pot up, and low-and-behold, there was a huge flounder in it. I don't remember how big it was, but it was definately an unquestionable keeper. NP was so pizzzzzzzzed!

 

[Kain99]

In addition, I think perhaps it would also help if they made it illegal to keep or possess sponge crabs (the female crab (or male???) carrying the eggs).

I'm pretty sure that is illegal.

 

[jazz lady]

Originally posted by tatercake
semi-

When I was about 16, we had a house right on the canal in Lewes, and I used to keep one of those metal-type crab catchers in the water. I'd pull it up each afternoon and see what I had. NP (who loves to fish) used to sit out there every day and fish the canal for flounder, but usually only caught oyster crackers.

One day, I pulled my crab pot up, and low-and-behold, there was a huge flounder in it. I don't remember how big it was, but it was definately an unquestionable keeper. NP was so pizzzzzzzzed!

Hee-hee-hee. Reminds me of my flounder and crab story.

I don't like to fish, but I went with my hubby down to Point Lookout and we were fishing off the jetty. We weren't having much luck, but I finally got something on my line. It gave me a great fight, but when I pulled in the line, I had a huge CRAB on the end.

Hubby gets him off and throws him in the bucket. Then hubby finally gets something on HIS line. He reels in a big fat flounder, takes him off the line, and tries to throw him in the bucket. The crab wasn't having any part of this, rears up, and throws the flounder out of the bucket. The flounder flops down the rocks, splashes back into in the water, and swims gleefully away. We didn't catch any more fish that afternoon.

Hubby had that crab for supper, though.

 

[dems4me]

Originally posted by Kain99
I'm pretty sure that is illegal.

You'd think it was -- but I can't find it in the regulations anywhere.... if its the female carrying the eggs... there are no limits on the female - whether its carrying eggs or not was how I interpreted it. I'll look into it -- I still have a few more months before I think of crabbing. I just thought the orange stuff was kind of gross and I'd throw it back in. It's also fun catching doublers!!! But I'd throw the female back in regardless.

Hey TC -- I cought a 19 inch flounder last year -- I was bottom fishing for cats and kept reeling it in and something was bouncing on the bottom-- I just thought it was trash or something. I pulled it over the boat side and screamed!!! I had no idea what it was. The guy I was with had to calm me down and explain its ok to have a fish with both eyes on the same side of its head and all about flounders. It really scared me, I thought I'd pulled a monster of the sea up or something and I ended up throwing it back (no matter how good he said he could cook it)- I then switched to a top water lure!!!

 

[sleuth]

Originally posted by dems4me
The guy I was with had to calm me down and explain its ok to have a fish with both eyes on the same side of its head and all about flounders. It really scared me, I thought I'd pulled a monster of the sea up or something and I ended up throwing it back (no matter how good he said he could cook it)- I then switched to a top water lure!!!

I woulda freaked too. I didn't know flounders had eyes on the same side. I woulda figured it was the result of Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. :shrug:

 

[dems4me]

Originally posted by sleuth14
I woulda freaked too. I didn't know flounders had eyes on the same side. I woulda figured it was the result of Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. :shrug:

That's what I was wondering, I started trying to shake it off my hook at first because I was scared. A few casts before that at the same place, I thought I had a fish on. Turns out it was a fish skeleton -- just its bones that I was reeling in... I got it on video because I thought it was going to be a big fish that I pull up ... When you watch the video of this .. its nothing but me pulling a fish skeleton out of the water -- all I could say was maybe I reeled it in too fast :shrug:

 

[Tenknots]

Only male Dungeness crabs in the PNW can be taken. I'd never heard of female crabs eaten until I moved here. I think taking only male crab would eventually solve the problem. Having a moratorium on crab harvest for one year is a great idea, but you'd have some unhappy (and broke) fisherman.

 

[dems4me]

Originally posted by Kain99
I'm pretty sure that is illegal.

Yeah Kain99 you were right!!!!!!

"Harvesting of sponge crabs is still illegal in Maryland.

George Sackett
Fisheries Service
Maryland Department of Natural Resources"