During recipe research for a small gathering I was amazed to learn that when Sand Crabs are first hatched from an egg – they have tails! Not only that, but as the crab gradually grows, in stages it sheds its old exoskeleton or shell, growing into a larger shell each time.
After several dozen times of shedding its old shell, the tail gradually folds down onto the crab’s abdomen and remains part of its anatomy throughout its lifecycle.
Pictured Above: The Abdomen of a Sand Crab,
showing its ‘Tail’ folded in on its abdomen.
It was quite interesting, reading Sand Crabs by Laurie Suarez, I also discovered there are dozens of names by which they are also know, including: Alimasag in the Philippines and Rajungan in Indonesia.
Of course many of us are familiar with calling them Blue Crabs, or Blue Swimmer Crabs… but do you know when to call the same exact crab a ‘green crab’?
… when it’s uncooked of course, just like ‘green prawns’!
I was inspired to by one for lunch, but really they are a lot of work to properly remove all the meat from the shells, so I will spare my guests that task and build the meal around prawns and fish.
When we have a more relaxed meal and can make a bit of a mess, I’m going to try a Chili Sand Crab feast with some crusty bread to mop up the sauce.