Fun Crab Facts and Jokes

They say you gotta give the people what they want.  In this case it seems to be crabs.  The number of searches I have seen this week that landed on my crab post is overwhelming.  So I decided to revisit my favorite decapods.  The previous post was a bit more scientific and specific.  Today, I want to talk some of the more trivial and fun facts you can share with your tables about crabs.

 

Crabs are decapods (ten legs) crustaceans (their skeleton is on the outside) and arthropods (they have segmented legs).

If a crab loses a claw, it will grow back.

Males grow one larger claw.  It’s purpose is to impress female crabs rather than for attack or defense.

A crab’s teeth are in its stomach.

Crabs can be carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores.

Crabs can also be cannibals and will sometimes feed on weaker crabs of the same species.

The largest variety of crab species in a single country is found in the US.

Many crabs can live on land as long as they can keep their gills moist.

Of a crabs 10 legs: 2 are the front legs with claws.  2 are “swim paddles” in back.  The remaining 6 are walking legs.

Crab Diagram

Crabs swim and walk from sideways.

You can determine the sex of a crab by looking underneath it.  Females have “domed shape” undersides while males have a slightly more phallic appearance.

Crab: Male or Female

There are 6,793 species of crabs divided into 93 families.

Of these species about 850 live some or most of their life on land.

King Crabs are not considered true crabs.  Neither are Hermit, Porcelain, or Horseshoe Crabs.

As a service for all of you server out there, here are some ridiculously bad crab jokes:

I was going to bring your crab out to introduce you before we cooked him, but he was being crabby.

Crabs have ten legs, which make them very agile, but oddly enough they are terrible dancers because of their 5 left feet.

You just let me know if those crabs wont share the butter with you.  They have been known to be a little shellfish.

I was going to bring your crab out to introduce you before we cooked him, but he was being shy.  I had a talk with him, but it is tough to get him out of his shell.

And the oldest crab joke of all used to be told by one of my favorite guests almost every time he came in the restaurant.  It became so legendary that we actually have a plaque at his favorite tables that reads, “Do you serve crabs here? –Barnett Helzberg”  I can think of no better way to end the post than with his joke:

Man walks in to a restaurant and says, “Do you server crabs here?”

The hostess replies, “We serve everyone.  Have a seat.”