![]() The Atlantic Deep Sea Red Crab Company, operated by John Williams, runs four specially equipped red crab harvesting boats. On ice, their shelf life is three to four days before black spots start to appear on their bodies, something that doesn’t happen to blue crabs. Some 3,000 pounds of red crabs are shipped to Asia weekly in specially equipped airplanes with special tanks. At the Seafood Market in Hampton, Virginia, some Asians have been known to buy van-loads of red crabs.Ītlantic red crabs can live two to three weeks if held in properly aerated tanks in 38- to 48-degree water. Red crabs are very popular with many Asians. Some big seafood restaurants have featured them as part of their crab Alfredo. You may have already eaten red crabs without realizing it. Red crabs are often available from Graham and Rollins Seafood Market. The carcasses of dead whales sometimes provide a kind of nutrition bonanza that the crabs can sniff out from long distances away. Often the red crabs must rely on food that sinks down from the surface. The red crabs scuttle across the ocean floor at depths from 600 feet to a mile deep. Most live at greater depths than do the king crabs.Īt the depths where red crabs live, there is little or no light to navigate, and water temperatures hover around 38 degrees. Red crabs have no choice but to walk along the sea floor. Blue crabs are called swimming crabs because they can use their paddle-like rear legs to propel themselves through the water. Red crabs flank the edge of the continental shelf from Nova Scotia south to the Gulf of Mexico. The red crab has been described as the “other big crab.” The red crab is one of several related species of crustaceans that live in various deep stretches of the Atlantic. In a survey conducted in 1974, it was found that between offshore Maryland and eastern Georges Bank, the standing crop was an estimated 59 million pounds. Commercial fishing got started in the early 1970s. It was lobstermen who started bringing up red crabs caught in their lobster traps in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1964, Andreas Holmsen, professor of resource economics at the University of Rhode Island, conducted the first study of the crustacean. The red crab has a lifespan of up to 15 years, while blue crabs unusually do not live longer than three years. The Atlantic deep-sea red crab does not have swimming paddles like the blue crab that is sometimes referred to as “the beautiful swimmer.” The red crab can reach a maximum weight of 3.75 pounds. Dissimilar to the blue crab that produces offspring in multiple years, the red crab produces offspring only once every two years. They are bigger than the blue crabs living in the Chesapeake Bay. ![]() The red crab has an orange-red color in the wild and has spindly legs. That is a good-sized crab when you compare it to the popular Chesapeake Bay blue crab. The average red crab is about one to two pounds. It should not be confused with the Alaskan king crab, although it might be a distant cousin. The red crabs like to stay at about 38 degrees Fahrenheit all the time. Unlike the tremendously popular Chesapeake Bay blue crab that lives in relatively shallow water, the Atlantic deep-sea red crab (Chaceon quinquedens) lives in cold deep water.
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