Category: Crabs and Shrimp view all from this category

Description 9 1/4" (23 cm) wide, 6 3/8" (16 cm) long. Fan-shaped. Upper side grayish-brown, tinged with purple, cream-colored underneath, pincers not black-tipped. Carapace oval, surface granular; 5 unequal teeth between eye sockets; margin with 10 teeth from eye socket to side, last one largest. Pincers stout, fingers bent downward at tips; walking legs short.

Habitat On sand bottoms; from low-tide line to water more than 300' (91 m) deep.

Range Alaska to s. California.

Discussion The Dungeness Crab is the chief crab species taken commercially on the Pacific Coast. While it occurs mainly in water more than 100' (30 m) deep, it comes into shallow water to molt. The molted skeletons washed up on the beach have caused people to think the crabs were dying of some disease.