Craabs and Loobsters: Let go dammit!

[Avic7]

Hey Just wondering

I've been diving for a couple of months now and have been seeing alot of crabs. Haven't touch any of them except for the young uns. Out of curiousity, how much pressure can they exert in those claws of theirs?
Enough to break my finger? What if I am wearing a thick wet glove ( I usually wear my dry gloves) will I be able to feel it? And how to I get the crab to let go once it has caught me?

 

[ScubaBabe22]

Hey Just wondering

I've been diving for a couple of months now and have been seeing alot of crabs. Haven't touch any of them except for the young uns. Out of curiousity, how much pressure can they exert in those claws of theirs?
Enough to break my finger? What if I am wearing a thick wet glove ( I usually wear my dry gloves) will I be able to feel it? And how to I get the crab to let go once it has caught me?

There's always one way to find out!

Do it yourself! Ha! Kidding! There was a forum a while ago about a lobster that took off the tip of a mans finger...

How big are these crabs?

 

[Avic7]

Yeah I read about that, that why I rather learn from someone elses' mistakes. Not goin to be sticking no fingers in front of a crab's nose.

 

[ScubaBabe22]

Yeah I read about that, that why I rather learn from someone elses' mistakes. Not goin to be sticking no fingers in front of a crab's nose.

No sense of adventure...



I would, however assume that size (at least in crabs!) corrolates to strenght...How big are they?

 

[Diver0001]

Hey Just wondering

I've been diving for a couple of months now and have been seeing alot of crabs. Haven't touch any of them except for the young uns. Out of curiousity, how much pressure can they exert in those claws of theirs?

Enough that you will wish you had read more about how to pick them up before you started handling them. It would take and enormous crab to break anything and I don't think it would be possible for them to take off a finger.

For the record, there are two good ways to pick up a crab. You can grab it across the "shoulders" if it's small enough. From what I've seen they can lift their claws up but not up and back. (this also works with lobsters, btw). If it's too big to grab across the widest part of the shell then you can pick it up by the butt. Thumb on the bottom, fingers on top. I haven't seen a crab yet that can get it's claws back between it's hind legs.

R..

 

[Damselfish]

You do run into the occasional mutant double jointed crab. My brother got pinched by one, Dad told him he must have picked it up the wrong way and went to demonstrate the "proper" way - bam! Highly amusing to me. :laughing:

 

[Diving Dutch]

If it's too big to grab across the widest part of the shell then you can pick it up by the butt. Thumb on the bottom, fingers on top. I haven't seen a crab yet that can get it's claws back between it's hind legs.

R..

Then you're not looking hard enough. In some species, female crabs are able to reach under and pick at their clutch when stressed. Males have pretty much the same range. With that said, the rear scoop is the method I use.

It's not some much my fingers I worry about, but the hoses and other "goodies" the crab can grab on to. I understand that a burlap sack works well for stowing harvest, but have not used this particular method.

 

[teknitroxdiver]

Note that the story involving the guy losing his fingertip was not from a claw. In fact it was a caribbean lobster with NO claws. The guy reached in for it and it acutally BIT the end of his finger off...through a pair of gloves.

Them lobsters got big toothies....

 

[Steve Egner]

I see you're from B.C., so you're spotting Dungeness, Red Rock, and possibly King crab?

I enjoy harvesting Dungeness in season. I'll be going out next weekend to a spot that has been productive in the past, where a friend of mine, evidently pondering the same question,

Out of curiousity, how much pressure can they exert in those claws of theirs?

decided to test the strength of a Dungeness' pinch using his gloved finger as an impromptu bite gauge of sorts. Paraphrasing here, the crab increased pressure at an alarming rate, causing my friend to halt the experiment.

To be fair, I think that the test came about as the result of a fumbled grab. My friend has a lot more sense than that.

Ouch.

Steve

 

[MarkH]

I've been pinched a couple of times by a dungeness crab. I still have all of my fingers, but one of them left a nice bruise and the other one left me with one of those burst blood vessel black blotches. I was wearing thicker-than-7mm gloves by the way. They don't like to let go either. I just had to patiently wait until they decided I'd had enough. I've never been pinched by a Puget Sound king crab, but judging by the size of their claws, they can probably do more damage.