We’re right in the middle of crab season in Maryland, and we’re loving it. We’ve got the best and freshest crabs coming in every day and we’re serving ’em up with our classic blend of Costas Inn seasoning! Yum!
Since we’ve got crabs on the mind, we thought we’d use this week’s blog to share a few fun blue crab facts you might not have known. Sure, most of us know how to distinguish between a male and a female by looking at the apron, but did you know there’s another way to tell whether the crab is a male or female? Learn this fun fact, and more, in our blog!
7 Fun Blue Crab Facts
How else can you tell the difference between a male and female?
In addition to looking at the apron (males have an apron shaped like the Washington monument), there’s another way to tell if a crab is male or female. Mature female crabs’ two claws are both tipped with an unmistakable reddish orange that gives them a very distinct look.
The scientific name for crabs is very appropriate.
The scientific name for blue crabs is Callinectes sapdius, which means “beautiful savory swimmer.” They got that one right!
Blue crabs can be found way down south.
And when we say way down south, we mean it. Blue crabs live along the coastlines of the Atlantic and Carribean, all the way down to South American and Argentina!
The largest blue crab ever caught in the Chesapeake was huge.
It measured 10.72 inches across and weight 1.1 pounds! Now that’s a big crab!
Blue crabs are cannibals.
As bottom-dwellers, their main foods are small fish, snails, mussels, and plants, but if there’s nothing to eat, they’ll eat other blue crabs too.
Female blue crabs mate only once in their lives.
They can release more than 2 million eggs per brood!
The blue crab is the Maryland state crustacean.
As if there could be any other!
Costas Inn has been a family owned and operated restaurant for over 40 years. We were voted #1 Crab Restaurant 2014 in the Baltimore Business Journal! You can enjoy our famous crab cakes in-house or order them online for anytime eating. We also provide some of the best seafood catering in the Baltimore area! You can also get your fill from Costas even when you’re not in our dining room: follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and YouTube!