Are Crabs Attracted To Light?

[ralphrepo]

Hi all, new to crabbing here. I had asked a similar question a while back but had gotten no response, so I'm rephrasing the question in hopes that I can get some information. Namely, are Blue Crabs attracted at all to light? I know that crabs are mainly attracted from a distance by scent. But I had noticed too, that some companies sell glow in the dark crabbing objects. And I've read anecdotal stories about crabbers using flashlights at night to attract crabs. So, that got me thinking (I know, sometimes that can be a dangerous thing, LOL...); what about providing light within the trap, so that the crab can see the bait? Would that have any value? I've seen fishing lures that glow, and I also see being sold, small underwater LED lights being touted as fishing lures. I was also imagining that at night, with a lit trap, one could easily see a crab walking in and know exactly when to pull the trap back up.

Has anyone here ever tried something like that? How effective are they, if at all? Thank you.

[Crab Shack]

Rapp tried that once, but he couldn't hold his breath long enough to see if it worked.









r

[54bobby]

i use glow sticks from time to time. they don't overwhemingly catch more. red seems to work the best.

[tattoo]

YES,

[Luna Sea 3]

yes.. along piers that are well lit, crabs will be swimming in the lighted water where they can be netted.  You can also spot light them from a boat.  The crabs are drawn to the light and can be netted up..

[ralphrepo]

This may be a bit late, but lights (esp at the blue end of the spectrum) do seem to work; 77% improvement with white light, 47% improvement with purple light. The articles and research focused on snow crabs (which are deeper water), so there may be some differences with blues. But IMHO, it's probably not too much of a hassle to attach a cheap plastic LED light to a trap, so it's worth a try. Considering that the Anglerfish, uses a bioluminescent modified fin (the thing that sticks out from his head and glows) to attract other marine life, light is biologically proven as an attractant through natural selection.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468550X16300557
https://thefishsite.com/articles/lowpowered-led-lights-can-improve-snow-crab-catchability