Spider Crabs - tropical

[TropicalDiver]

Once while in Cozumel at a local restaurant - El Captain or something like that - I had a FABULOUS MEAL made from 1/2 of one of these. The legs were so large they had hair on the ends, like our larger spiny lobster we get in FL.

Fast forward to last year, got a hold of one while snorkeling in the Keys and our friend's Cuban girlfriend looked at us like we had two heads. She eats lobster, stone crab, but wouldn't even touch it! So....I was wondering how many people had either eaten one or would try one. Round circular carapace and 8 long legs. I think it might have had small claws on front two legs, but am not entirely sure.

 

[FredT]

The reef spider crab (Carapace about 6" to 8" across armspread on the males is about 3-4') is primarily a herbivore and excellent eating if you have steady hands and nerves. Males have large claws for breeding disputes, and often loose one in mating battles so they have a mechanism to "let one go" without too much body fluid loss.

If you grab one of the males by the outside of both claws from above and rotate both claws outward around the centerline of the claw he will eventually give one claw up, then go off and pout while he grows another one. It's possible to harvest several claws off a single crab if this is done carfully, you just have to wait a few months to let him get the replacment claw up to snuff again. Just two of those claws is a meal!

OTOH if you slip and let him get ahold of you the razor edge on the bottom tip of the claw he uses to scrape algae off the reef is good for a LOT of stitches! A buddy let one claw get away from him in Coz during a picture taking event a couple decades ago. It took 23 stitches to close his hand. Luckily it missed most of the tendons. The green cloud under water was impressive though.

FT

 

[archman]

Dang Fred, what HAVEN'T you eaten?

 

[ScubaFreak]

these things freak me out me....i hate spiders, and they just look like big sea spiders :15a:

eek...

 

[FredT]

Dang Fred, what HAVEN'T you eaten?

Milk Conch - According to the Bahamians the meat in this little shell makes eating a whole bar of X-lax seem like a mild purgative in comparison. I decided not to test it. I have eaten most other conch species at one time or another.

Sea Cucumbers and Sea Stars- Too much effort to clean for the reward, although we did try a couple times.

Nudibranchs- too much variety in their biological defense mechanisims to go there.

The 3 years I spent as a starving FAU student in Boca Raton my grocery store was a few hundred yards off the beach between Riveria Beach and Marathon. 6 months of the year we ate lobster. The rest of the year we ate "whatever was slow that day". With only $15/ week disposable income for food and gas my wife and I ate much better buying air ($.50/tank with a hundred fill card) and hunting for lunch than doing the macaroni and cheese thing at Publix.

FT

 

[Quetzal]

Are These Guys Maroon Colored In Panama City Area. Looks Like A Crab A Took Claws Off Last Year.