Description: The Dungeness crab belongs to the hardshell crab family. Its shell is light reddishbrown on back and sometimes has a purple splotch toward the front. The underside is white to light orange. Its claws are white-tipped, and the tip of the last tail segment flap is rounded. While a male Dungeness crab can grow to a shell width of 230 mm (9 inches), the size limit for harvest in British Columbia is 165 mm (6 1/2 inches) across the maximum breadth of the shell. Most Dungeness crab weigh between 680 grams (1 1/2 lbs) and 1.4 kg (3 lbs).
This crab species has a sweet, mild and slightly nutty taste with tender body meat and slightly firmer leg meat.
Product Forms: Dungeness crab is available whole (live, fresh-cooked or frozen), and as leg and body meat. The leg and body meat is available fresh-cooked, frozen or canned.
Availability: Dungeness crab is harvested in Canada in all months. Most landings however occur from May to October.
Buying Tips: When buying Dungeness crabs, look for meat that is opaque white and for an aroma that is fresh, mild and not fishy. Live crabs should be active in their holding tanks. The shell colour of whole cooked crabs should be bright red. Avoid frozen crab meat that appears freezer burned or discoloured. As well, avoid crabs that are soft-shelled and light-weight since they have been harvested too early and their shells will not yet be full.
Storing Tips: Live Dungeness crabs can be stored in well-aerated tanks for several weeks, but should be used on the day that they are purchased. Raw crabmeat should be cooked within 24 hours after the crab dies, frozen crab meat should be stored for no longer than 4 months and canned crab should be used within 6 months.
Fresh-cooked crabs should be stored at around 0?C (32?F) and never above 4.5?C (40?F), while frozen crabs should be stored at -23?C (-10?F).
Preparation/Usage: When buying whole Dungeness crabs, the yield is usually 25%. Live crabs, that weigh about 1 kg (2 lbs), should be boiled in salted water for approximately 10 to 12 minutes, cooled and then cracked. When preparing a whole crab for use, the viscera should be cleanly removed since it may contain heat-resistant biotoxins.
Dungeness crab can be fried, steamed, broiled or included as an ingredient with a combination of other seafoods. It is eaten hot or cold, but most enjoyed in its plainest form, simply plucked from the shell and eaten with drawn butter and good bread.
Area of Origin and Range of Availability: Dungeness crab is found all along the west coast of North America from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska to Mexico.
Dungeness crab is found all along the west coast of North America from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska to Mexico.
Harvest Volume: While approximately 2,700 metric tonnes of Dungeness crab were harvested in 2000, the average volume harvested between 1990 and 1999 was 3,865 tonnes.
Harvest Method: Dungeness crabs are most commonly harvested using traps or ring nets. Most traps are a frame covered with stainless wire to form an enclosure that includes a one-way entrance. Some trap frames are covered with web. A ring net is a circular frame holding a bag of web which captures the crab when it crosses the frame edge and the frame is lifted. Occasionally Dungeness crabs are also collected from shallow waters by hand using SCUBA or dip nets.
Processing Method: While some Dungeness crabs are sold live, others are processed and sold fresh-cooked or as shelled meat.
Markets: Dungeness crabs are primarily shipped live to world markets, with the United States being the major market.
Sustainability: Size limits and the restriction on harvesting any female crabs are the primary conservation measures in place in the Dungeness crab fishery. In British Columbia, the size limit is 165 mm (6 1/2 inches) across the maximum breadth of the carapace. This measure is designed to protect sexually mature males for at least 1 year and all female crabs since the female species rarely exceeds this size limit. While licences were introduced in 1990, other conservation measures include biodegradable escapement devices on traps to limit ghost fishing, escape holes to allow small crabs out of traps and seasonal closures. In addition, the number of boats on the British Columbian coast is fixed at 224, and the number of traps is restricted.
Historical and Anecdotal Information: The Dungeness crab is one of 35 true crabs living in Canada’s Pacific waters and is the most important species of crab harvested in British Columbia. While the “Dungeness?name is derived from a fishing port on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, its Latin name loosely translates as “chief ?or “principal?crab.
Dungeness crab has been commercially harvested in British Columbia for over a century. While the first recorded commercial landings were in 1885, Aboriginal people were harvesting the crab prior to the European arrival in North America.
Until the 1950s, nearly all the catch was canned, but after the Second World War, markets developed for fresh-cooked and live crab.
Other Species: Tanner crab is a large deepwater spider crab noted for its scarlet/orange colour, deep brown eye colour and long, thin legs. Currently, this is a limited exploratory commercial fishery, for which a market needs to be developed.
| NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION |
| Per 3.5 oz/100 grams of raw edible portion |
 |
| Calories |
86 |
| Total fat |
1.0 g |
| Saturated fat |
0.1 g |
| Protein |
17.4 g |
| Cholesterol |
59.0 mg |
| Sodium |
295.0 mg |
| |
| Source: USDA |
| | | 
