But do not leave them long in a warm kitchen, or you may rue your overconfidence. After a night in the icebox, they can even be handled with impunity. In October, the cold water makes them sluggish and consequently much easier to catch. July is by far the most exciting time to fish for them for the warm water puts these monsters on their mettle, and they are extremely agile and will snap at the least provocation. While blue crabs have always been common along the south shore of Cape Cod from Stage Harbor to Woods Hole, it is only within the last five or ten years that they have been abundant in the Nauset Marsh. In my old age, the near miss of those clashing jaws is too much for me and 1 invariably drop the crab - which always leads to further difficulties.

I seem to remember, as a boy, carrying blue crabs in my fingers, but I can’t do it any more. He can bring his claws well up over his back. The crab then futilely gnashes his teeth well forward of one’s tender digits. In the case of most crabs, one can watch for the chance to grab them firmly by the hind end, thumb on top and fingers beneath. If he misses, the claws meet with a loud crack.įurthermore, he appears to have double-jointed shoulders. When a blue crab makes a pass at something, he brings his claws together in a flashing arc. They are armed with two heavy claws, each of which terminates in needlepointed, strong jaws which are studded with toothlike excrescences. When they reverse their direction, which they can do with extraordinary rapidity, the previously dragging claw is bent and the other allowed to drag. They keep their forward great claw bent at the elbow and let the aft one drag out straight astern. Blue crabs have paddles on their hindermost pair of legs and can scull either to right or to left with amazing speed.

Horseshoe crabs don’t count and the body of those large deep-water spider crabs is considerably smaller than that of a blue crab, even though their diameter from leg to leg is greater. The shells measure six to seven inches across their longest diameter. ONE of our more exciting Farm House expeditions is a Blue Crab Hunt.

Atlantic blue crab