Can you eat a female Blue Crab?!
Can you eat a female Blue Crab?
My uncle always threw them back and told us never to eat them. He said they could be having babies and that's why. However, I just saw a website online that sells female crabs. They're A LOT cheaper than the male ones, but they sell them. So, what's the deal with the female crabs? Are they edible or not? Or only in certain circumstances?
Additional Details1 week ago
I have never (not even once) eaten one and that's why I ask. However, if it is only to ensure future generations of blue crabs, I never will eat one ever. I love crabs and I want to keep them around for a long long time!!!
Answers:
1 week ago
I have never (not even once) eaten one and that's why I ask. However, if it is only to ensure future generations of blue crabs, I never will eat one ever. I love crabs and I want to keep them around for a long long time!!!
Edible but your uncle is looking out so that there may be more crabs in the future......but it's true they sell male and female crabs.....and the prices change often. I guess he should have said, don't go crabbing and catch females. But you can buy them and they are supposedly better. No doubt they are bigger lol.
Source(s):
In Maryland too
You can eat them. The meat actually tastes better than the males. Only problem is if they are getting ready to have babies they may have yellow eggs in them. Which one hurt you but some people find it gross.
no but andrew barry ate human feces.
you can eat them.. maybe its just a taste preference
They are edible. The reason the females are typically thrown back is because we need them to keep having babies so the population remains at levels safe to continue fishing for them. It is best to not eat them in case they have eggs ready to be laid..
It comes down to ethics. I happen to agree with your uncle and we do need to keep the populace up. Since males do not reproduce the eggs needed to increase populations eat them, but it is all up to you and your own set of ethics.
B
Youre uncle was a smart man a single female blue crab can produce up to eight million eggs in one mating season. The constant harvest pressure on the species and the loss of submerged aquatic vegetation habitat - which young crabs require for shelter and food during their development - have led directly to the decline in the blue crab's numbers.
Eating a blue female will often cheer them up. and it is an exultant form of foreplay.