Dungeness crab
June 23rd, 2008 | Published in Everyday Life
My boys and I celebrated the first day of summer by heading to the beach.
When we first arrived, the tide was fairly low.
Within a few minutes of exploring the deeper water
as well as the exposed tide flats,
my eldest found two small crab.
The one he’s holding above and the one in the photo below is of the Dungeness variety.
I know we’ve seen them smaller…but I did a quick read on their growth as we were wondering how old this particular one might be.
Dungeness crab (named after the town of Dungeness, WA) begin as eggs and then enter a larval stage with several molts until they are about one quarter of an inch long (about a year later) at which time they begin to resemble the adults. It is also at this time that they take up bottom dwelling. As adults they can measure between 8-10 inches. Here is a photo taken last summer up at Lopez Island. Our uncle had his hands full!
Below is the second crab my eldest found. It was smaller and its coloring looked to be quite different than the other, but because of the white at the tips of its claws, we’re thinking it must be a Dungeness as well. Any crab experts out there??
It’s fun for the boys to see the crab when they are little, realizing how big they really do get. When we are visiting the San Juan Islands, we see them as adults, but very rarely do we see the smaller ones there. Maybe the sandier bottom beaches are better areas for the younger crab as they can easily bury themselves for protection, especially needed while molting?!
Just a side note…as I was searching for photos, I found this one of my eldest last year. He is holding a red rock crab but what I noticed were his teeth (smaller and a lot more of them!).
