Catching Spider Crabs

[Huw]

Hi guys, I haven't posted in a while, but hey thought I could shed some light on the clawing discussion .

Remember only to take 1 claw... a crab with no claws will almost definitely starve to death, and also will not be able to mate. A crab with one claw can feed effectively, mate effectively, defend itself effectively and move without hindrance. In fact as a claw is the most likely thing to ever be injured/trapped/grabbed by a predator it is essential that it can be shed and that a crab can survive without it.


If you look at the claws of a spider crab you will see that they are identical, whereas a lobster claws are very different; as they have one designed for cutting and one for crushing. Therefore you can take whichever one without really affecting how they feed.


As far as removing claws goes, basically if you take hold of any crustation and 'twist' the claws off it is fairly likely that you will cause irreversible damage and stress leading to possible death. The trick to taking a claw is to trick the crab into shedding the claw rather than physically breaking it off (obviously this is sometimes easier said than done). This way the crab employs its natural defense mechanism and intends to surprise and confuse us, and it allows the crab to safely remove the claw and seal the joint off from water intrusion into the main body and insure that it can re-grow the claw in time.


If you consider a situation when a crab would naturally shed the claw - perhaps loosing in a fight, it would be because that particular claw has been seized and the crab fears that if it does not act quickly then it may be killed.

I once saw a lobster take firm hold of a crab claw and apply pressure (not sufficient to break the shell) and almost immediately the crab dropped the claw and backed off into cover. Following that, the next time I was out spearing I took a spider crab and squeezed behind the 'elbow' of the claw and watched exactly the same thing happen again.

If you 'twist' the claw off you will see meat attached to the base of the claw that you have just removed, whereas if you encourage the crab to drop the claw, you will see that the base of the claw is clean.


Obviously this is a little more fiddly and takes a little while to do, and for this reason is unfeasible on an industrial scale, and hence the 18% mortality rate quoted in the previously posted article. For this reason I do not agree with industrial 'clawing', but us spearos have the liberty of being able to take our time, and therefore no damage needs to be caused.

I won't sit here and say that taking a claw has NO effect on a crab, however, a crab is perfectly capable of living as normal without it, and certainly shouldn't die if it 'sheds' the claw rather than having it torn off.

Hope this message reads ok... just got back from the pub!

All the best,

Huw.

PS: I have been told that if you come across a lobster and have no bag or floatline to tie it into, you can just put it in your wetsuit!

[baldyfish]

looked up sheep crab. they look the exact same as spiders. they look meaty too. maybe nobody takes them because like here there is no market for them?? they are danm tasty though. I sat try one!!

[baldyfish]

hey there, just looked that up. sheep crab are spider crab!! catch one and enjoy!!
johnny