Fun Crab Facts      

America has more varieties of crabs than anywhere else in the world. The smallest crabs are the pea crab, which live inside oyster shells, and can be less than 1.5mm. The largest crab is the Japanese spider crab, which reach 12 feet from leg tip to leg tip.

A Stone crab's claws make up more than half its body weight.

Only the claws of the Stone crab are eaten. Fishermen twist off one claw and return the crab to the sea where the crab will regenerate its claw within 18 months.

Alaskan king crab fishing is ranked number 1 as the world's most dangerous profession.

America's best selling crab is the blue crab from the East Coast. It is followed by the West Coast Dungeness Crab, king from Alaska and Florida stone crabs.

A single Alaskan king crab can yield over 6 pounds of meat. They can measure up to a 6 foot leg span.

The Dungeness crab's name comes from the town of the same name on Washington's Olympic Peninsula.

The blue crab's shedding process is repeated up to 25 times during a crab's lifetime.

The oldest crab industry in the United States is the blue crab industry of the Chesapeake Bay area, dating back almost to the early 1600's.

While the female blue crab is in her molted state, the male blue crab will protect her. The female however shows no such mercy and will devour any male that comes along her way.

Blue crab is the only crab that is eaten in both the hard and soft-shell form.

Dungeness crab is available year round. It is harvested in California during the winter. Oregon and Washington crabbing season lasts longer into the spring, while in British Columbia the peck season starts in April and Alaska Dungeness fishery occurs mainly in summer. Only male Dungeness may be kept. This is true throughout the United States. In 1897 possession and sale of female Dungeness was prohibited.

A tagged blue crab was recorded swimming 35 miles in 48 hours.

And best of all ....

 Crab is good for you! A 3 ½ ounce serving is 110 calories and just 1.2 grams of fat and it only gets better Crab is an excellent source of chromium, which helps raise the levels of HDL (good cholesterol) Crab also contains goodly amounts of selenium a trace element that works as an antioxidant, detoxifying carcinogenic substances.