RED KING CRAB
Kamchatka (or, as called in America, red king, Alaskan king crab) crab is one of the most famous inhabitants of the Barents Sea. However, few people know that the King crab is not a crab at all, and it does not come from the Barents Sea, but from the Bering Sea. Despite this, the King crab has become kind of a “gold standard” among sea delicacies and its popularity is well-deserved.
King Crab: Introduction
King (royal) crab (lat. Paralithodes camtschaticus) is a species of part-tailed crayfish from the family Lithodidae, outwardly similar to "real" crabs – representatives of short-legged crayfish (lat. Brachyura). Yes, it is a crayfish: from the point of view of carcinologists (the so-called specialists in crustaceans), the king crab is actually... a hermit crab. It differs from "true" crabs by the underdeveloped fifth pair of walking legs and the asymmetric abdomen in females.
King crabs received the unofficial nickname “royal” not only for their great taste, but also for their size: the abdomen of an adult male reaches 28 cm in diameter, and the weight of individuals exceeds 8 kg.
The homeland of the king crab is the Far East, but at the beginning of the 20th century it was settled in the Barents Sea. After several unsuccessful attempts, the new species did well, and is now harvested in the Northern Basin on an industrial scale.
The king crab feeds mainly on food of animal origin. Its diet includes sea urchins, cod caviar, starfish, worms and small crayfish, in a word, almost everything that can be found at the bottom of the sea (the king crab cannot swim, therefore, it moves “on foot”).
Crab Fishery: history and the present
Crabs were able to get to Murmansk only in the 60s – by plane. Scientists experimented by releasing adult individuals, young ones, or even caviar into the Barents Sea. In the end, it was possible to establish that adult crabs with a shell diameter of at least 4 cm set up home best of all after the “move”: they withstand the negative effects of the environment better. In total, about 5,000 adults and about twice as many young individuals were settled in the Barents Sea.
It is hard to tell exactly how the new population developed in the first years after settlement, but it is known for a fact that in the early 70s in the Murmansk Oblast several amateur fishermen managed to catch adult king crabs, and by the middle of the decade it was already about tens and hundreds of individuals caught. An exponential phase of population growth began – the king crab not only settled in the Barents Sea, but, being freed from natural enemies, large octopuses, began to reproduce rapidly. Later, scientists noted variations in the number of king crabs in the Barents Sea, but, apparently, today the experiment on settling a new species in the Northern Basin can be considered successful. However, red king crabs should not be allowed to reproduce uncontrollably in a favorable environment: this can be dangerous for already existing communities in the Barents Sea. And here the industrial production of king crabs (for which, in fact, they were brought to the North in the first place) comes to the aid of ecologists.
Nowadays, legal fishing of the king crab in the Barents Sea is carried out according to the so-called "quotas" — certain limits determined by the state depending on the estimated population size and its impact on the ecosystem. Such policy, on the one hand, protects crabs from overfishing, and on the other hand, preserves the populations of fish, worms, and crustaceans — the original indigenous inhabitants of the Barents Sea. In the future, if the decline in the number of king crabs in the North turns out to be too sharp, the catch quotas will simply be reduced, so the population will recover. However, it is too early to worry about this: crabs in the Barents Sea are regularly noticed even by amateur divers, not to mention ecologists and fishermen.
crab parts
The body of the Red King Crab consists of a head-chest, fused with a small abdomen, and five pairs of legs. The fifth smallest pair is “hidden” in the gills. The cephalothorax and abdomen are protected by a dense chitinous carapace with spikes. The limbs are also covered with a chitin. Dense external “skeleton” not only protects a crab, but also serves as a place of attachment for muscles. Edible parts of Red King crab are claws, legs and places of attachment of limbs to the shell.
- Dactylus
- Merus
- Abdomen
- Propus
- Chela
- Cluster
- Carpus
- Legs
- Whole crab
Crab meat: a healthy delicacy
King crab meat has excellent taste and dietary properties. It practically does not contain fats and carbohydrates, but it is rich in easily digestible protein and trace elements, such as phosphorus, magnesium and potassium. Only 35 g of crab meat fully satisfy the body's daily requirement for vitamin B12. Particularly useful is the meat from the phalanges of the limbs of the crab. It contains a lot of iodine, which is necessary for the normal functioning of the thyroid gland.
| NUTRIENTS | per 100 g | % of RDI |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | 18.2 g | 19.78 % |
| Total Fat | 1.0 g | 1.49 % |
| Total Carbohydrate | .0 g | .00 % |
| Dietary Fiber | .0 g | .00 % |
| Water | 79.0 g | 2.91 % |
| CALORIES | 82 kcal | 5.37 % |
- Vitamins: B12, PP, B6, B5, E, B9, B2, B1, A, C
- Minerals: Cu, Se, Zn, P, Na, Mg, Ca, K
More about the red king crab
Hemolymp (equivalent of blood) of the king crab quickly oxidizes in the air, acquiring a bluish color, therefore, these crabs are sometimes called blue-blooded animals. This is not entirely accurate – in the restored form, the hemolymph is almost colorless.
The short fifth pair of limbs in many species of hermit crabs serves to hold the shell. The dense shell of king crabs eliminates the need to seek a shell or other shelter, but these legs are still too short and weak for walking.
On the contrary, the rest of the king crab’s walking limbs are so long that they allow it to make annual migrations along the bottom at a distance of up to 150 km and even more - kilometers.
The NWFC catches and processes adult male Red King crab in the Barents and Norwegian seas. We release the females and juveniles back into the sea. We process the rest of the catch on the our vessels, preserving its best nutritional qualities, freshness and taste of the sea.
A list of our crab products can be found on our "Crab Catalog" page.
In the "Recipes" on our site, our chefs share tips and tricks for cooking crab dishes.