Dungeness crab females can store sperm that is still viable for up to two years and have babies even if they aren’t mated this season.
The Dungeness crab, Cancer magister/ syn. Metacarcinus magister, inhabits bays, estuaries, and the nearshore coast of Alaska. The species gets its name from a very shallow, sandy bay inside Dungeness Spit, which is on the south shore of the Straits of Juan de Fuca. You can find it all over the world, from the Aleutian Islands in the north to Magdalena Bay in the south. This crab supports commercial personal use and sport fisheries in Alaska. The Dungeness crab is a decapod, related to shrimp, lobster, and other crab. Its body is broad and oval, and its shell is made of hard chitin. It has four pairs of walking legs and two pairs of claws. This species is different from the king and Tanner crabs, which are also important for business, because its legs are much smaller and shorter compared to its body, and the back of its shell is smooth and spineless.
Dungeness crab is a popular shellfish found along the west coast of North America. With its sweet, succulent meat, it’s considered a delicacy and is highly sought after. But what exactly is a Dungeness crab? In this article, we’ll explore everything you need to know about this tasty crustacean.
The Dungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister) is a type of edible crab that lives in the Pacific Ocean. It gets its name from a shallow bay inside the Dungeness Spit on the Strait of Juan de Fuca near Port Angeles, Washington.
Dungeness crabs have an oval, hard shell and 10 legs. Their shell can grow up to 10 inches wide, though crabs used for food are typically around 6 to 7 inches. Only male Dungeness crabs of a certain size can be legally harvested for consumption.
These crabs prefer sandy or muddy ocean floors at depths of up to 200 feet. They are frequently found in bays estuaries, fjords and coves. Their range extends from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska to Magdalena Bay in Mexico. However they are most abundant between Washington and California.
The Dungeness crab fishery on the west coast is economically important, with Alaska alone harvesting an average of 6.5 million pounds annually. Half of the commercially caught Dungeness crab comes from Oregon and Washington. California and British Columbia also have major crabbing fleets.
What Makes Dungeness Crab So Delicious?
Dungeness crab meat is considered by many to be the finest tasting of all crabs. Their sweet succulent flesh has an elegant flavor with notes of sea salt and mild iodine. It lacks any fishy taste and has a pleasing firm flaky texture.
The meat fills out the body cavity completely, unlike some other crabs that have smaller amounts of usable meat. The body meat is the largest portion, though the claws also contain tasty morsels. Connoisseurs highly prize the yellow fat or crab butter found in the body as well as the dark green tomalley (hepatopancreas organ).
Dungeness crab is low in fat and calories while packing in minerals like zinc, copper, and magnesium. It has high levels of protein along with vitamin B12, selenium, and omega-3 fatty acids.
How to Cook and Eat Dungeness Crab
Dungeness crab can be prepared in many delicious ways:
Boiling
This is one of the most traditional and popular cooking methods. Live or cooked Dungeness crab are simply boiled in salted water then served with melted butter or cocktail sauce for dipping. Ensure the crab is cooked through by boiling for at least 8 minutes after the water returns to a boil.
Cracking and Picking
Cracking and picking involves manually extracting the meat from the cooked crab. Use crab crackers or small mallets to break apart the shell before picking out the chunks of meat with your fingers or small forks. The crab meat can then be enjoyed on its own, added to pastas, salads, soups and more.
Crab Cakes
Lump crab meat combines perfectly with breadcrumbs, eggs, and seasonings to make fabulous crab cakes. They can be sautéed in oil or baked for a delicious appetizer or entrée.
Stir Fries
The crab meat also excels in quick Asian-inspired stir fries. Try sautéing it in sesame oil with snap peas, bell peppers, bean sprouts and noodles. Finish with a splash of soy sauce, fish sauce or oyster sauce.
Grilling
For simple grilled crab, brush the halved shells with olive oil or butter before placing them cut-side down on a hot grill for 2-3 minutes. Grill the body and claws separately. Baste with lemon butter as it cooks.
How to Buy and Store Dungeness Crab
When purchasing fresh Dungeness crab, look for crabs that feel heavy for their size. They should have a fresh sea breeze aroma. The body shell should look full, clean and free of cracks with a violet tint on the edges. The underside should be free of residue with some yellow “mustard” visible. Avoid crabs with yellowed or mushy shell spots.
Live Dungeness crabs can be kept in a cooler with damp newspaper for several hours. Cooked crabs should be stored in the coldest part of the refrigerator and eaten within 3 days. The cooked meat will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge or up to 6 months in the freezer.
How to Clean and Prepare Dungeness Crab
Cleaning live or cooked crabs before eating might look intimidating but it’s easier than you think:
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For live crabs, start by chilling them in the freezer for 30 minutes to sedate them. Then flip them upside down and split them in half by firmly inserting a heavy chef’s knife into the center point and tapping with a mallet.
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Twist and pull off the triangular flap on the underside along with innards and mandibles. Rinse out the body cavity.
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Break off the claws where they meet the body. Use kitchen shears to cut through the joints and remove the legs.
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Use a crab cracker, mallet or small hammer to crack the body, claws and legs. Extract the meat by picking or using a seafood fork.
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For cooked Dungeness crab, simply use your hands and a mallet or cracker to break apart the body and claws. The shell is softer so it cracks easily. Pick out the delicious meat.
Dungeness Crab Fishing in Alaska
Alaska boasts robust populations of Dungeness crab in the waters around Kodiak Island and throughout Southeast Alaska. Commercial fishermen harvest them with baited circular pots lowered to the ocean floor on lines. Crabs enter the pots through funnel-shaped openings and are unable to exit. The pots are hauled up periodically and the legal-sized male crabs are removed and kept while females and sublegal males are released.
Subsistence, personal use and recreational fishermen also participate in the Dungeness harvest using pots, snares or ring nets. Crabbing opens in summer months and usually lasts into December or until the quota is met.
Dungeness Crab Facts and Trivia
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Dungeness crabs molt their shell periodically as they grow. Soft-shell crabs are considered a delicacy but must be eaten shortly after molting before the new shell hardens.
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The Dungeness crab gets its genus name Metacarcinus from having a wide, flattened carapace (shell).
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Males Mate by clinging onto newly molted females for several days before the female’s shell hardens.
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Females can produce up to 2.5 million eggs but they only hatch every other year in Alaska due to the stressful two month starvation period spent incubating them.
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Dungeness crabs help keep clam, worm and shrimp populations in check as both scavengers and predators.
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Much of the commercial crab harvest is caught by small family-run boats passed down for generations.
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Native American tribes like the Tlingit have traditionally used all parts of the Dungeness crab as food, bait and tools.
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Smaller, soft-shell Dungeness crabs are called bubblies. Full-grown hardshells are known as channel rocks.
In Summary
With its distinctive oval shell, sweet succulent meat and Pacific coastal habitat, the Dungeness crab is truly an iconic crustacean. Sustainably caught and prepared simply by boiling or grilling, it showcases its elegant rich flavor. This cherished shellfish holds an important place both culinarily and culturally along the west coast. Learning how identify, cook and crack Dungeness crab helps you fully appreciate and enjoy this delicious treat from the sea.
Size and Sex Determination
In Alaska, the legal size of a Dungeness crab is its shoulder width, which is found by measuring across the back of the carapace between the two notches right in front of the tenth anterolateral spine. This is also known as “notch to notch.” One can only take male Dungeness crabs, and the shape of the crab’s abdomen can tell you what sex it is. Females have a slightly rounded abdomen while males have a triangle-shaped abdomen. This is more noticeable when females reach the stage where they can lay eggs, but not as noticeable when they are younger. The legal size for Dungeness crab in Alaska is 6. 5 inches notch to notch.
There are eight congeners (same genus) to the Dungeness crab. The European edible crab (Cancer pagurus), the Jonah crab (Cancer borealis), and the Atlantic rock crab (Cancer irroratus) are all caught for food. The red rock crab, Cancer productus, is harvested by sport fishermen in Oregon.
Dungeness crab mate from spring through fall. Males are polygamous––each male crab may mate with more than one female. Because only male crabs can be caught, this may be an important part of keeping this species’ reproductive health. Male crab only mate with female crab that have just molted (shed their old exoskeleton). About a month after mating, when the female’s shell has hardened, the eggs are fertilized. Until then, the female crab stores the sperm in pouches inside her body that are specifically made for this purpose. For up to two years, females can store sperm. Big females will often use stored sperm to fertilize their eggs instead of molting and mating. The female lays eggs through holes on her underside; the eggs are fertilized as they pass through the stored sperm and stick to hairs on the abdominal appendages, where they stay until they hatch. A large female Dungeness crab can carry 2. 5 million eggs.
After hatching, crab zoea larvae are planktonic and swim away freely. Larval development takes from 4 months to as long as a year in Alaska. Before the crab molts into its first juvenile stage, it goes through six stages of larvae, five zoea and one megalopa. Crabs grow each time they molt. Both males and females grow at about the same rate for the first two years. After that, males grow faster than females. Sexual maturity may be reached at three years. The legal size of 6. For every year that goes by, the crab’s shell gets wider by 5 inches. At this point, it weighs about 2 to 3 pounds. A large male Dungeness crab can exceed 10 inches in shell width. The estimated maximum life span is from 8 to 13 years.
Dungeness crab are widely distributed subtidally and prefer a sandy or muddy bottom in marine waters. However, they are tolerant of salinity changes and can be found in estuarine environments. Most of them live in water less than 30 meters deep, but some have been found as deep as 200 meters.
Dungeness crab foraging behavior coincides with their habitat. These crab scavenge along the sea floor for organisms that live partly or completely buried in the sand. They are both scavengers and predators, and their diet can include bivalves, worms, shrimp, fish, and small crab.
Dungeness crab are distributed from the Aleutian Islands to Magdalena Bay, Mexico.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
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Dungeness crab females can store sperm that is still viable for up to two years and have babies even if they aren’t mated this season.
The Dungeness crab, Cancer magister/ syn. Metacarcinus magister, inhabits bays, estuaries, and the nearshore coast of Alaska. The species gets its name from a very shallow, sandy bay inside Dungeness Spit, which is on the south shore of the Straits of Juan de Fuca. You can find it all over the world, from the Aleutian Islands in the north to Magdalena Bay in the south. This crab supports commercial personal use and sport fisheries in Alaska. The Dungeness crab is a decapod, related to shrimp, lobster, and other crab. Its body is broad and oval, and its shell is made of hard chitin. It has four pairs of walking legs and two pairs of claws. This species is different from the king and Tanner crabs, which are also important for business, because its legs are much smaller and shorter compared to its body, and the back of its shell is smooth and spineless.
All you need to know about Dungeness Crab, Snow Crab, and King Crab.
How big do Dungeness crabs get?
Dungeness typically grow 6-7 inches at their widest point and inhabit eelgrass beds and sandy bottoms. Its common name comes from the Dungeness Spit in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Washington state, United States, which shelters a shallow bay inhabited by the crabs.
Where do Dungeness crabs live?
The Dungeness crab ( Metacarcinus magister) makes up one of the most important seafood industries along the west coast of North America. Its typical range extends from Alaska ‘s Aleutian Islands to Point Conception, near Santa Barbara, California.
Can you eat Dungeness crab at home?
Dungeness crab can be a luxurious, festive, and deliciously messy meal. Whether you’re a novice or a pro, you can prepare and enjoy dungeness crab at home. It’s important to cook, clean, and serve crab properly to enjoy its full decadence. Even if it’s a quiet dinner at home, when dungeness crab is on the menu, your taste buds will be celebrating!
What is the value of Dungeness crab?
For years, Dungeness crab has been one of the most valuable fisheries for California’s seafood industry, worth significant dollars. But its value goes beyond dollars and cents — it is a cultural icon in California’s central and northern coastal communities and is often shared between friends and family for the holidays.