Page:Dungeness Crabs of Glacier Bay.pdf/1

 Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve




 * 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