Is Blue or Dungeness crab better?
We’ve lived in Maryland for the last 7 years. My kids are 8 and 10.
We all agree, including my husband that blue crab is better. It tastes sweeter.
We’ve got our fresh crab blue from Annapolis, Maryland and our Dungeness crab from San Diego, California.
Are we just getting it from the wrong area or is blue crab just better?
Note: my 8 year old misses the hammer that you would typically get in Maryland 😂

anyone need crabs yo

It is interesting 🤔

I think they're eat everything lol

The gray crab is Helice tientsiensis

The red crab is Tubuca arcuata

It is eating mealworm

I caught it at April

It lost one of its claws when it molted.

Cancer is like a crab in latin right? 🦀🦀🦀

Molt + After + Before!! (Can someone remind me her scientific name? I need to write it down so I stop forgetting 😅)

“There are souls which, crab-like, crawl continually toward darkness, going back in life rather than advancing in it, using what experience they have to increase their deformity, growing worse without ceasing, and becoming steeped more and more thoroughly in an intensifying wickedness.”

― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

A haze of murk was settling on the horizon. Only a tiny margin of the burning red drop of the rising sun was visible as it was smothered by thick and heavy clouds. A storm was brewing. Noah sighed, as he looked out from the portside of the vessel. “Today was going to suck,” he thought to himself. Storms at sea always made the work more difficult and dangerous. Plus, it was uncomfortable to be soaked and cold for the remainder of the thirteen hours he had left in his shift. He needed to focus up, to grit his teeth and get through this hell. Then, as if on cue, a huge swell hit the bow of the ship and caused him to slip. He caught his fall by gripping the edge of the ship, but that horrible smell of the sea rushed into his skull, like that of rotting cabbage, which caused his nostrils to flare. God, how he hated that pungent odor which assaulted his senses day in and day out. Yet, September was fast approaching, the break in the season, when the crabs needed to molt, and he could enjoy his large summer season paycheck and relish the time off to play video games or endlessly scroll Reddit. Noah was a quiet young man; some would call him socially awkward, yet through the veil of the computer screen, he loved to mock and argue with anonymous people online long into the fog of the early morning hours. Crabbing paid the bills, but at a cost; a deep and searing resentment was building. He clenched his fists and focused his rage on the task at hand.

The old white-bearded fisherman next to Noah pulled the lever on the winch, and the line whirred as it coiled tightly. Noah leaned over next to the old man, ready to help bring another fresh crab pot onboard. Both commercial crabbers nodded at each other in anticipation of the dredged-up treasure being hoisted up above the violent waves. They were the only two crew members on pot duty for the crabbing boat that was bobbing out in the waters of the Pacific Northwest.

"Is that a storm, Douglas? You checked the weather, right?" asked Noah as he looked out at the horizon.

"Focus up, pot is coming," Douglas replied.

Noah rolled his eyes and placed both hands on the gunwale. Douglas stood firm, transfixed on the cord being pulled up. Suddenly, a bright yellow pot emerged from the turbulent water. Both men went to work pulling the crab pot aboard and opening the hatch. The dark purple carapaces of Dungeness crabs spilled out onto the sorting table, their light orange extremities twitching in confusion at the removal from their aquatic home. The men began sifting through the catch, tossing back any small or immature crabs overboard while dropping the keepers into the live holding tank in the middle of the sorting table. Noah always felt bad for the ones he imprisoned. Like a cruel executioner, choosing who lives and dies. Yet, the money was good, and he needed it.

Then, Noah saw it. In the middle of the pile of writhing crustaceans, something shimmered with an odd and entrancing cobalt blue light. He reached his hand between two large female crabs and pulled out what looked like an eerie orb. Strange symbols were carved into the bizarre artifact. The old man hadn't noticed; he was finished sorting his half of the catch and preparing to bring up another pot.

Noah was enamored. The deep, alluring blue held his gaze as he stared at the object that rested neatly in the palm of his hand. Then it spoke to him, not through his ears; the message seemed to enter his mind directly. It was a series of short, staccato clicks and chatters that soon formed into words he could understand.

"Assimilate. Your biomass is welcome. Become my herald."

Noah was no longer on the boat. He was deep under the waves, at the bottom of the sea. His feet sank into the slop of wet sediments. A similar blue light to that of the orb was glowing atop a sunken spire about 100 yards away. Colossal whale bones flanked him. He was, inexplicably, standing in the middle of a whale fall. Hovering, the dim blue light of bioluminescent organs could be seen, as rattail fish created ghostly counterillumination silhouettes above him. Noah looked closer at the bones and noticed foul, red Osedax bone-eating worms wriggling in the low light, attached higher up where the bone had been stripped of flesh. Below him, he noticed vile Hagfish squirmed as they twisted their bodies to pull rancid meat from the decaying giant's corpse. At the base of the bones, disgusting translucent sea pigs swarmed, scavenging on any remaining detritus. In the distance, surrounding the edge of the eerie blue light, giant lilac isopods skittered around, preferring to stay in the shadows to observe the newcomer to their realm of darkness.

Suddenly, something colossal appeared before him. Cloaked in shadow, a decapod of unimaginable size lumbered towards the sunken spire, heading directly for Noah. The creature seemed to dwarf an aircraft carrier. A crimson shell appeared under the faintly glowing blue light. It eclipsed the spire with legs that extended well past the zone of illumination. Two enormous pincers rested on the seafloor as the mighty crustacean stopped to inspect its prize.

More hideous and maddening clicks and chatters echoed deep within Noah's mind, as the eye stocks of the titanic creature began to resolve. Eventually, the vile sounds crescendoed into a cacophony of clacks and chittering which caused his heart to race.

"I don't understand. What are you?" Noah cowered as more of the loathsome noises filled his brain.

Noah felt the crushing weight of dread as he looked at the vast creature before him. "What do you want with me?" he cried out into the darkness when the sounds became too much for him to endure. The clicks finally gave way to words again, words he could comprehend.

"I will show you the truth of existence."

The massive and ancient invertebrate god further invaded Noah's mind. Noah was transported back in time, long, long ago to another unfathomable benthic abyss, where he saw a fissure erupt below him that would change everything. Noah watched in amazement as he saw hot chemicals mixed with the cold seawater. Somehow Noah’s consciousness had been expanded, as if the entity had enlarged his knowledge. He now understood, that the rage contained beneath this planet’s crust, this near-limitless supply of chemicals and energy, combined with the cold marine environment, generated a fiery and frigid underwater caldron which was left to bubble and blend for millions of years.

He watched as time seemed to accelerate. At first there appeared to be no goal, no reason, only a swirling of heat and compounds within a saline solution. Yet, from this geological anomaly the most miraculous thing occurred. Noah’s eyes widened, somehow, he could perceive the tiniest of chemical reactions. Bit by bit, piece by piece, chemical bonds chained more and more molecules together in increasingly elaborate ways. Then, it happened. The first molecules arrived that could do what none could achieve before. They could catalyze their own formation. These molecules could then fold and store their own information which they needed to change themselves, becoming a helix of unparalleled complexity. Noah began to weep. It was stunning. A new and stable intricate chemical hard drive had been created; the magnificent DNA molecule had formed. This proto-life continued to develop. Eventually, tiny phospholipid shells enclosed these strange self-replicating things which provided enhanced protection. Thus, deep under this crashing primordial sea, Noah bore witness to the first cell that came into being.

The moment overwhelmed him. The universe was no longer a sterile and pointless container, filled with the leftovers from creation. He parted his lips into a toothy grin. And in that fraction of a second, life continued to evolve. Yet a question bubbled up from deep within. What was the goal of this so-called life? A series of clicks and chattering followed and Noah understood the grand and complex spiral of life itself. Life had a perfect form: an unstoppable structure that crawled and skittered in the darkest of depths. A body molded under pressure and brine; again and again, as if its wickedness was inevitable and inescapable. For what had seemed like a random process, he now understood was, in fact, guided by a powerful master. A great shaper from a realm beyond the physical universe, who sought to bring all life under her control. This being had discovered something —a way to link mind and body by sharing her perfection. For she sought to bring all living things together in a grand and corrupting unification. Noah now looked on, not at the huge arthropod, but a womanly form with golden brown kept hair, skin that shined with a chitinous sheen and black compound eyes which reflected ethereal blue light of the spire. Her ideal bodily proportions were thinly wrapped in rusted chains and thin, flowing siphonophore-like translucent membranes which swayed with the current like great silky sheets.

She was known as Karax, The Grip of the Deep and The Great and Terrible Brood Mother. She was exquisite, and to Noah, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She waved her arm, and in an instant, she showed him the creation of life across the entire universe. Noah learned the truth: The surface was a lie.

On countless ice-shelled moons and planets across the cosmos, numerous species evolved in deep, dark oceanic depths. That the denizens of hadopelagic zones chose the same shape, over and over again. Throughout time, they never succumbed to the unyielding pressure, for the shape of the crab was the optimal design. Life had a purpose—an endpoint. Karax had shown him that all life wanted to return to this place, that true happiness was only possible with an exoskeleton hidden in darkness. Carcinization was salvation, which gifted one with the absolute form the universe craved.

Throughout his entire life, Noah had felt as though something was missing. His mind drifted back to two nights prior, when his Tinder date had left him with the bill. How he hated her repulsive face. How he hated the fact that he, once again, had pleasured himself that night, alone, in the darkness of his room, by the glow of his phone. How he hated humanity, which he felt had turned its back on him. Now, she had explained his emptiness: his ancestors had strayed from the true path. They had rejected him, but she had accepted him. Now, they must all be punished and brought back into the fold to become one with the nightmare. Noah's fear had been replaced by a sublime sense of bliss, clarity, and a new profound purpose.

"Greenhorn. You alright?"

Noah dropped the orb, and it rolled under the sorting table. The words, along with the sensation of Douglas's grip on Noah's shoulder, brought him back to the present moment on board the boat.

"Stay back! Don't touch me!" Noah screamed as he swiveled and pushed the old man down. His connection broken, the pleasant feelings had evaporated. In their wake, simian rage filled his heart. He was no longer part of the collective, ripped away from his master before the final message could be transmitted. Heavy raindrops began to fall from the heavens. The storm was upon them.

"You have ruined everything, surface dweller!" Noah screamed.

"Easy…I—"

"Enough! No more words!" Noah began to pummel Douglas with his fists. Then, he saw it. Glinting under the table. He scrambled for it on all fours.

"She is coming! I shall show you!" Noah extended his hand to grasp the azure pearl he craved, but a swift kick to his side scrunched him into a ball. The old man still had some fight in him.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Greenhorn?" Douglas shouted as he loomed over Noah, curled over in pain.

Noah scrunched his face in anguish. He needed the orb. "You wouldn't understand. She is the true master of reality."

"We are heading in… You need some help, kid." Douglas turned to get the captain's attention.

Noah saw his opportunity. He reached under the table, grabbed the orb, and did the only thing he could think of doing: opened his mouth and swallowed it. A minute passed as he lay staring up at the falling sky. He felt empty. Alone. Disconnected. He tried to reach out with his mind to that place, but was met with only silence.

Then, it happened. Noah felt a horrible pain across every inch of his skin. His joints cracked as he writhed and strained every muscle in his body. His back became incredibly itchy. He felt his spine breaking out in an excruciating jerk. A crack had formed. His movements slowed, and his skin became bumpy and calcified. Soon, it was no longer skin; his polysaccharides were transforming into a chitin exoskeleton. Noah felt his bones liquefy and restructure as more muscles and tendons filled the empty spaces. He was expanding; the pressure from inside needed release.

Noah rolled over on his stomach as he cried out. The crack grew, and he began to emerge out of himself, much larger than before. The orb made him molt. As he emerged from his flimsy human shape, he held up his arms, which were now replaced with mighty claws, and he pulled eight legs out of the flimsy skin sack that was his inferior form. Sticking out of the center of his chest rested the brilliant blue orb, half-buried by his new shell. His worthless old frame lay like a lifeless husk on the deck beneath him. He was now a soft-shelled abomination of crab and man, a human-like torso and head attached to claws and pereiopods. After another molt, he would obtain his proper form. Perfection takes time.

Then, he heard them, crying out for help. They sang a low-pitched, melancholy song as an ensemble. Imperceptible to human ears, his new link could understand them. He moved from his revolting humanoid casing and darted towards the live holding tank. He used his claw to puncture the tank, sending seawater spewing up from under the deck as crabs were sent flying with the release of pressure.

A loud gunshot interrupted his feeling of joy from freeing his comrades. He slowly turned as blue copper blood spilled out from his back. With a terrified look, Douglas held the rifle tightly and aimed for Noah's head with the next shot. But before the old man could pull the trigger, they felt the entire boat rise out of the water, grasped by a massive claw.

Noah smiled. "Witness your end. For she has been awakened!"

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Thanks for reading my little crab horror story!
Original art for this post by Artist Scuttlekid

Weird Crab Sunday 🦀🎣🦞

Callichimaera

"'Because it possesses a strange combination of anatomical features, it is said to be the "platypus of crabs".'"[1]

Attribution: [1]

"Meet Callichimaera perplexa, the platypus of crabs". YaleNews. 24 April 2019.

ban me if it violates the rules I don’t see anything against it