From West Seattle waters: A crabby mystery

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

That photo is from “Kona” Greg, who works at Alki Kayak Tours (different Greg from the boss), and wants to know what a king crab was doing in 3-foot deep water off Duwamish Head – or, if that’s not a king crab (which usually roam Alaskan waters), what was it? he wonders:

I was out on a tour Friday Sept 18th and spotted this critter near the Duwamish Head channel marker. I had a guest from Penn. with me. We were in about 3 feet of water and she spotted a crab and asked me what kind it was? I could not believe my eyes when I looked down. It sure looks like a King crab to me. I am wondering if anyone has ever seen a King in Elliott Bay, or has information on what this is if it in fact is not a King. I am in, on, or under water here ALL the time and have been for the last 5 years. I have never seen anything like this. Plus as a PADI divemaster I have over 200 dives right here in West Seattle.

Here’s the other photo he sent:

The only kind of “king crab” that’s supposed to be in Puget Sound is this one – pretty but doesn’t resemble Greg’s photos at all.

Scott September 27, 2009 (2:53 pm)

Maybe one escaped from Salties?
Yum, dinner!

WSB September 27, 2009 (3:00 pm)

My guess was along those lines or maybe like the scenes from more than a few movies, somebody bought one live and “set it free” … But who knows. Remember those giant squid washing up everywhere they shouldn’t be? Anything’s possible … TR

Living in West Seattle since 1985 September 27, 2009 (3:37 pm)

with all the boat traffic around here & all the cruise ships going up to Alaska . . . maybe it hitched a ride.

k September 27, 2009 (6:07 pm)

If it is from Alaska will it survive here?

miws September 27, 2009 (7:20 pm)

Maybe it’s a once thought to be extinct type of local crab that had been living in the Ivar’s sign for 50-ish years! ;)

Mike

Alex September 27, 2009 (7:26 pm)

Actually I think greg’s photo resembles the one on the paddle very closely. Aside from the color (different cameras and different lighting) they are practically identical.

Scott September 27, 2009 (7:59 pm)

If I remember right, they are a DEEP water creature, and will not survive at shallow depths. More than you probably ever wanted to know can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_crab

This is why I never understood why when you see them crabbing in Alaska that they throw the unwanted crabs back into the water. They apparently suffer from the Benz on the way up and back down.

Leroniusmonkfish September 27, 2009 (8:00 pm)

It sure as hell looks like a Red King Crab to me…I would have to agree with Living in West Seattle that it probably hitched a ride…was found in one of the fishing vessels holds and thrown overboard?

SarahScoot September 27, 2009 (8:34 pm)

Alex – they are the same crab; that’s the point. They’re two pictures of the same critter. The comment saying they don’t look alike is referring to the provided link.

d September 27, 2009 (9:11 pm)

Kona – maybe you should send your pics to NOAA. It looks like an Alaskan king to me, but have the experts confirm it. If a boat dumped that crab, it might have dumped others that were caught by mistake? If that were to happen, NOAA would want to be notified of the possibility of invasive crabs mating. But even if it is just the single crab that was dumped, there could be possible issues of the crab transporting foreign or harmful matter to local waters. I just found a sciencenews article describing a similar misplaced dungeness discovered in the Atlantic. According to MIT, it’s a big deal. So, NOAA might want to know about that too. Or maybe you have already thought of all this and notified them? Thanks for sending the pics to the blog. Interesting

OP September 27, 2009 (9:34 pm)

Now the important question: Did ya eat it??? A crime if that crab wasn’t served with a garlic butter sauce….

herongrrrl September 27, 2009 (10:34 pm)

It sure looks like an Alaskan king to me. It could have hitched a ride as a “baby”, too, inside a barnacle on the hull of any ship or in ballast water. Since all crabs start out as plankton, in theory any sea water that is transported to Puget Sound from Alaska could contain them.

mike September 28, 2009 (8:48 am)

One of Sarah Palin’s advisors – heard there were crackers at Salties.

John September 28, 2009 (11:43 am)

I would say that’s an Alaska King Crab. I’d also say it’s dead by now. It owuld not survive in the warm shallow waters of the Sound. How it got here???????

Ed September 28, 2009 (12:27 pm)

I heard they tried an experiment about 20 years ago off of Turn Point in the San Juans and planted some King Crab, but no signs of them ever showed up again.

Nick September 29, 2009 (12:22 am)

The Washington fishing regulations rag does indicate the existence of King Crab in the region although they are not legal to harvest

Michael J Swassing September 29, 2009 (11:57 am)

The fact that Bering Sea crab boats spend the off-season in local ports makes me think this cute little guy was an escapee and stowaway.

The comment above about the disposal of by-catch at sea is absolutely correct. It is a complete waste to discharge deep water fish or crabs overboard. The laws that regulate commercial fishing and crabbing are well intentioned, but far from ideal in the effect on the resources.