September 20, 1990 - A Good, Old-Fashioned Crab FeastSeptember 20, 1990 • The Suffolk Times C11
A Good, Old- Fashioned Crab Feast
By Paul Stoutenburah
Two or three times a year we have a
crab bash in our backyard with all the
family invited for a good old- fashioned,
newspaper - tablecloth hands -on feast.
Barbara prepares a combination pot of
crabs, corn on the cob, little potatoes,
hot dogs, chicken and sausages that
steams away on the stove, letting ev-
eryone know that crabs are cooking and
will be ready soon.
Previous years, crabs have been in
short supply and our only crab feast last
year was toward the end of the season
when we managed to get enough for one
meal. This year it's different. Crabs are
everywhere and we're enjoying their
sweetness as only those on the East End
do.
As most people know, crabs come
with their hard skeletons on the outside
(their shell) whereas we carry our skele-
tons on the inside. This novel arrange-
ment is fine until one wants to grow
and then other plans have to be made.
The crab's only choice is to leave its
old shell via its back door, emerging as
a soft crab, and take up water to swell
to its larger size. When this process
takes place in a female, a large male
cradles the "peeler" under him until the
molt takes place. This protection is
vital because the helpless softie is now
most vulnerable from the predation of
other crabs, fish, etc. As a reward for
his valuable service, the male crab
mates when the female is at this soft
stage and then protects her until she
gradually becomes hard enough to fend
for herself.
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Tomatoes 500 Ib.
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Focus on
Nature
Eggs in the Thousands
The eggs of the blue claw crab num-
ber in the high thousands and are carved
under the broad envelope of the female
crab, where they remain until they hatch
as big -eyed, long- tailed, free - swimming
juveniles, with curved spikes growing
from their heads. In these first stages of
life they become part of the plankton
soup of our bays that is consumed by
fish, jellyfish, worms, crustaceans of all
types and, in general, any kind of filter
feeder.
Those that survive the first critical
weeks of free floating by the currents
then change from swimming juveniles
to small crablike creatures that settle to
the bottom. Here again they face preda-
tion from a variety of crabs, fish and a
host of other "eat or be eaten creatures."
In the early part of a crab's life, the
shedding of the old shell to grow is
done very often. At each molt these
baby crabs become larger and larger and
each time they face the peril of being
thrust into a world of hungry mouths in
a soft and helpless state. As the crab
grows older and largr it sheds less and
less.
This continual shedding is one reason
why it is so difficult to determine the
age of crabs. There is no way of
attaching a tag for identification to
shells that are continually shed.
Blue crabs are found from Cape Cod
to Florida and rank second only to the
lobster in commercial value. In the Ch-
esapeake and thereabouts, it's the No. 1
fishing industry. Here pots and baited
lines are set out and tended regularly.
The big market is in the soft crab that
all eat in the restaurants. I know my
wife's weakness is soft crabs; when din-
ing out she always looks for that spe-
cialty. I must agree they are a gourmet's
delight. When eating the soft crab you
BLUE CRABS —Male crabs have blue claws and narrow pointed
pockets underneath. Females have lipstick red on their claws and much
wider pockets.
eat everything. Well, not quite every-
thing, for they are cleaned of the inedi-
ble parts, but the soft shell, legs,
swimmers and claws are all cooked and
eaten as one.
Nets Do the Job
In our local waters crabs are caught
mostly with the old- fashioned crab nets
where you go along, see one and scoop
it up. Once in a while you might get a
softie but the main object of crabbing
on the East End is in getting the hard
crab, which I've mentioned is either
steamed or boiled.
In the South where soft crabs are an
industry, an art has been developed
whereby the crab man knows just where
the crabs are ready to shed. These
peelers are put in a floating pot where
they are allowed to shed and then
collected for market. Knowing when and
who to put in the shedding pots is the
key to success; should you put the
wrong one in, it will eat all your soft
crabs. Cannibalism is a way of life for
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many creatures of the sea.
Another way of collecting crabs be-
sides a net is with a trap baited with
some chicken bones or an old fish head.
These traps have sides that fall open so
the crabs can crawl in to get the bait.
Once inside, the trap is lifted up, the
sides fold up and hopefully you have a
crab for dinner. This operation is usu-
ally done from a bridge or dock where
one can see into the trap and pull it
straight up.
Another version of this is the crab
pot that is also baited, but here the crab
climbs into the pot with a one -way en-
trance, something like a lobster pot.
The number of these pots one individual
can have is strictly enforced by law.
Remember, if you're out for crabs they
must be at least five inches across, and
in Southold Town the females cannot
be taken.
There are many kinds of crabs. All
have 10 legs (should one be lost, it will
be replaced at molting time), two of
which are claws that are used for eating,
burrowing, fighting and, most unusual,
for signaling. Seems there's a claw lan-
guage which is used in warding off ri-
vals, repelling would -be predators and,
most importantly, attracting mates.
Another Great Feast
Around six o'clock the cars started to
roll in — grandmother, sister and hus-
band, sons and daughters, grandchildren
and all. Chatter started early and slowed
down only during eating, with the ex-
ception of "Pass me this" or "Pass me
that" or a burst of-laughter coming from
some choice yarn my son had just un-
raveled at the far end of the table. The
big garbage bucket started to receive its
load of empty shells, denuded corn cobs,
chicken bones, over -used napkins.
The light faded and still we ate, but
now at a more casual pace. A gaslight
was brought out from the camper that
shed its light on a cluttered table of
pots, plates, piles of shells, bottles,
glasses, pitchers of tea and a multitude
of trappings so necessary for such a
feast. Some had to leave early but
others stayed and ate 'til the last of the
crabs was gone. It was another great
crab feast here on our East End.
Read all about it
The Suffolk Mmes