Difference Between Female and Male Crabs

Female and Male Crabs

The majority of consumers eat crabs without asking if they are eating male or female crabs. For sure, they can’t tell which one is male and which isn’t. To add to the confusion, the characteristics of some crabs may also vary depending on their specific species. Nonetheless, either one surely tastes great. There’s hardly any taste difference as well.

Nevertheless, there are subtle differences to look out for so that you can distinguish the sex of the crab you’re eating.

In general, one of the most noticeable differences is the size of the claw. Fiddler crabs, for example, are characterized by males having one of their claws looking larger than the other one. Females have relatively smaller claws and both are the same size.

For most of the other crab variants, however, you can just do a general inspection of their underbellies. This area, sometimes called the crab’s tail, flap, or abdomen, is a good defining characteristic for discovering the crab’s sex. And so, if you carefully examine the markings beneath, you will notice that female crabs are those that have a dome-shaped underbelly just like what the top dome of the Whitehouse looks like. It is, therefore, more rounded and less phallic than the male crab’s underbelly markings. By contrast, male crabs have triangular or smaller flaps. It almost looks like a rocket standing vertically upright or how the Washington monument appears to be.

In connection to the crab flap, the female crab usually has her eggs tucked in-between her body and her flap. And so, if the underbelly portion of the crab seems to be protruding with some grainy and yellowish material, most likely these are her fertilized eggs.

In terms of claw color, some crab species like the blue crabs, have different claw colors. The majority, if not all, of the male blue crabs have blue-colored claw tips while female crabs have reddish claw tips.

All in all, the best ways to distinguish male from female crabs are:

1.For fiddler crabs, look for the presence of one abnormally larger claw than the other one in males as opposed to the smaller and more equally sized claws among female fiddler crabs.
2.Male crabs have a smaller, more triangular, or rocket-shaped underbelly markings compared to the female crabs’ broader or dome-like marking.
3.A female crab usually appears to have some fertilized eggs tucked in-between its body and flap.
4.Male blue crabs have blue-colored claw tips while their female counterparts have reddish claw tips.

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