Page:Dungeness Crabs of Glacier Bay.pdf/1

Dungeness Crabs of Glacier Bay
Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve

Dungeness crabs can be purple to grayish-brown, with cream colored undersides. NPS Photo

Dungeness Crab Facts

• Dungeness crabs have purple tinged, grayish­brown backs with cream­colored undersides.
• Mature Dungeness crabs are typically 6"­-7" across.
• Dungeness crabs have several pairs of appendages. Two pairs (antennae) are for touch and smell. A number of modified appendages act as a mouth, used for cutting, picking, sorting and pulverizing food.
• The pincers, the most recognizable appendage, are used for grasping, tearing and defense. Each crab has four pairs of walking legs. Appendages are also located on an up­tucked tail; the female uses these appendages to hold onto her eggs.
• Crabs are able to regenerate lost appendages.
• A sideways walker, a crab will push with four legs on one side and pull with the other side.
• They are named after one of their representative habitats ­ a shallow, sandy bay inside of Dungeness Spit on the south shore of the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
• Crabs have an outer shell, or exoskeleton, called a carapace.
• Dungeness crabs have broad, oval bodies covered by a hard chitinous shell.
• They have smaller, shorter legs in relation to their body size than other crabs of the area, and they have