Commensal Crabs

Started by DocSmith, September 05, 2004, 04:00:18 AM

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DocSmith

September 05, 2004, 04:00:18 AM Last Edit: September 05, 2004, 04:01:54 AM by DocSmith
When I lived in Virginia in the Denbigh area I used to buy fresh oysters by the bushel and shuck them myself.  Very frequently, after opening up an oyster, I would find a small crab living inside, which I would promptly eat, raw.  They were called called commensal crabs since they were just living with the crab - they weren't parasites.  They were about the size of a nickel, very much alive, very plump, and their shell was so paper thin they were almost transparent.  I heard they were a real delicacy and that people saved them as they found them and fried them up whole in butter after a shucking session.  I never tried that, I would just put them on a cracker with cocktail sauce and eat them whole, with their legs waving in the air right there. Really freaked my kids out!  Has anyone heard of these crabs, also?

8) Doc
The Cruelest Creature's the Crab, with Pinchers that can Cut you and Stab! And Then, when you Dine on Crab and White Wine, it's Murder when you Pick Up The Tab!

Siientx

#1
September 05, 2004, 04:18:52 AM
QuoteI never tried that, I would just put them on a cracker with cocktail sauce and eat them whole, with their legs waving in the air right there.

You ate it live? That part made me shiver!

jack1747

#2
September 05, 2004, 04:52:55 AM
Quote from: DocSmith on September 05, 2004, 04:00:18 AM
Has anyone heard of these crabs, also?
We always called them Pea Crabs.  Don't see as many now cause the oysters are so small I think.  When it was common place to get oysters as big as a mans hand ya had them all the time.  The oyster laws were written in a way that excluded the Pea Crab as a parasite "which it isnt".  They just co-exsist in the shell with the osyter.  Normally they do not last long enough to get to a cracker here. ;) ;D ;D
"Helping to Moderate the BCA since 2003" "I've gotten to the point in my life where I no longer give a [shiz] what people think, I'm not going to take any [shiz], because, frankly my dears, I am NOT in the [shiz] business." Quote from Suzy. :-)

procrabber

#3
September 07, 2004, 11:05:57 PM
order-Decapoda:  genus-Pinnotheridae
they are ususally commensal, and do no harm to the host oyster, but some species do eat the host.  the species in the bay are harmless to the oyster

Black Irish

#4
September 08, 2004, 06:41:05 AM
Isn't the mustard bad for you  ;D?

Thanks Doc, I had forgotten about them. I haven't had an oyster with one in it for about 15-20 years... :(

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Siientx

#5
September 10, 2004, 08:14:41 PM
Jack is correct. The official name for them is PEA CRAB.

(https://www.bluecrab.info/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fentomology.tfrec.wsu.edu%2Fpearent%2Fimages%2Fmisc%2FCrustacea%2Fpeacrab.jpg&hash=0671ec9cbf7d969bcc75c713563dca225f23c6aa)

Black Irish

#6
September 11, 2004, 12:51:50 AM
I remember them being a little whiter and flatter than those in Casey's picture?

Pass the lemon. please.  ;D

jr

#7
September 23, 2004, 11:37:17 PM
Ive seen a few but years ago they are probally worth claming for though :) ive never ate one. Now i wish i did :(

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