Tag Archives: Atlantic blue crab
Crabs have evolved five separate times—why do the same forms keep appearing in nature?
Charles Darwin believed evolution created “endless forms most beautiful.” It’s a nice sentiment but it doesn’t explain why evolution keeps making crabs. Crabs belong to a group of crustaceans called decapods, literally “ten footed”, since they have five pairs of walking legs. Some decapods, like lobsters and shrimp, have a thick, muscular abdomen, which is the bulk of the animal that we eat. With a quick flick of their abdomen lobsters can shoot off backwards and escape predators. Crabs, by contrast, have a compressed abdomen, tucked away under a flattened but widened thorax and shell. This allows them to scuttle into rock crevices for protection. Evolution repeatedly hit upon this solution because it works well under similar sets of circumstances. Five groups of “crabs”,,, >click to read< 14:10
Soft-shell crab season is ‘the start of all the good stuff’
One local delicacy seafood is quite popular in the Lowcountry this time of year. Soft-shell crabs, or female blue crabs, are being caught, sold and cooked in homes and restaurants along the state’s coast. Callinectes sapidus or “beautiful swimmers” are more commonly referred to as Atlantic blue crabs. Although they can be caught all year long, the peak molting, or shedding process, of a female crab’s exoskeleton to create the soft-shell normally occurs during the springtime in South Carolina saltwater. “The timing is dictated by the crabs, and when they molt is really dictated by water temperatures. So in our waters, molting can occur year round, but the peak of molting for these females is really in the April-May,, photo’s, >click to read< 13:52
Seafood Processor Pleads Guilty to Massive Crab Meat Switcheroo
A Virginia seafood processor has pleaded guilty to falsely labeling millions of dollars worth of foreign crab meat as a “product of the USA,” the Justice Department announced Wednesday. James Casey, owner and president of Casey’s Seafood Inc., entered his plea in federal court in Newport News, Virginia. Prosecutors said he admitted conspiring with others to substitute foreign crab meat for Atlantic blue crab and, as part of the plea, admitted to falsely labeling more than 183 tons of crab meat, which was then sold to grocery stores and independent retailers.>click to read<17:35
