Is this true

[BoatDad]

Got the regs you are not allowed to keep any females? I was told that when the bottom of the female looks like a triangle she has already laid eggs and they only lay one time. That is what a old waterman told me. If this is true why are we not allowed to keep any females is this so the waterman have more to catch since there crabbing days have been limited?:confused:

[Alley Cat]

Maybe.

[kidz]

Not true, female crabs with triangular apron is virgin crab. If apron is half moon, that is a mature crab that has been breeding. A report several years ago said that female crabs breed more then once. The report came from a group that had a model set up to recreate the crabs environment. Let's give this idea a couple of years and see what happens.

[Scott McGuire]

After mating only one time when molting, Females can produce multiple batches of eggs. In captivity it was seen as much as 7 times. In the wild, it's probably only 2 or 3 times. A mature female (apron the shape of the capital Building) that does not currently have eggs - MAY - not be through reproducing.

While it is true that females are allocated 100% to commercial harvest - this was not done just to give comms something to catch. Comms (in MD) have female bushel limits that control female harvest. Would it be better to just completely eliminate the harvest of females? Probably.

By the way, when I was a teenager, and old watermen/farmer mentor of mine told me that the baby crabs eat the mother! - He was wrong too!

[BoatDad]

Thanks guys I knew you guy's would have the answer. I will gladly let every female crab back.

[herefishyfishy]

Okay fellas, let's look at this logically. I can't say for certain whether female crabs are able to lay eggs more than once however in the latest literature that I have read, it states that after being inseminated, a female is able to produce several batches of eggs. If you read up on the molting and reproductive cycles of the female crab, you will discover that a female is inseminated during her terminal molt. The terminal molt is when a female crab goes from being immature(triangle apron) to mature(half moon apron). Ater this terminal molt, she will never molt again. This is as big as she will get. NOW, lets say you catch that female crab 2 days ater that terminal molt. This means that she is indeed mature and inseminated and has NOT yet had the opportunity to produce a brood of eggs. So, in looking at this insane theory that in the unlikely event that they do only lay eggs once, how do you know she has not yet laid her eggs after she has been inseminated? :eek2:

[C-Hawk18]

Ever wonder how many females DON'T get inseminated during (what is believed to be) their "terminal" molt? I do. When you catch that doubler, and throw back the female peeler, what happens if she doesn't "hook-up" prior to sloughing? That's right, NO mating. How many females are out there like that? Just consuming the resources? When I don't have a market for peelers, I just throw them back. Sometimes 3 dozen a day. Multipy that times the number of crabbers out there on a given day. Doesn't take long to add up. Maybe when you catch a doubler you should throw BOTH back to ensure the mating is completed?

The reason I thought about this is that I enjoy eating females. I have noticed the differences inside them. Some have "full" looking "ovaries or egg sacks" (whichever they are I'm not a crab biologist). Some have empty looking ones, and some have what appears to be none at all. My guess is that some are still "reproducing", some are done reproducing, and the others have never reproduced.

Just something to think about.

[rgminer]

Ever wonder how many females DON'T get inseminated during (what is believed to be) their "terminal" molt? I do. When you catch that doubler, and throw back the female peeler, what happens if she doesn't "hook-up" prior to sloughing? That's right, NO mating. How many females are out there like that? Just consuming the resources? When I don't have a market for peelers, I just throw them back. Sometimes 3 dozen a day. Multipy that times the number of crabbers out there on a given day. Doesn't take long to add up. Maybe when you catch a doubler you should throw BOTH back to ensure the mating is completed?

The reason I thought about this is that I enjoy eating females. I have noticed the differences inside them. Some have "full" looking "ovaries or egg sacks" (whichever they are I'm not a crab biologist). Some have empty looking ones, and some have what appears to be none at all. My guess is that some are still "reproducing", some are done reproducing, and the others have never reproduced.

Just something to think about.

A couple years ago, basically as a joke, I took a sharpie marker on the boat with me and wrote numbers on the shells of some of the small crabs I was catching before releasing them. I wrote on the shells of several including 3 female peers I caught as doublers. We crabbed 4 times that week and I caught the same 3 peelers on multiple occasions with different Jims. I know they were different because we kept the male crabs. I don't remember the exact count but I believe it was s total of 10 or 11 times within a 5 day period.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen the way you pointed it out, but the mating hormone is strong and the Jims seem mighty attracted to it.

We also wrote on the shells of some sponge crabs we released and a few weeks later caught some of those that had laid their eggs. This was in Chinco bay in VA.

[Scott McGuire]

In the MD portion of the Bay there are more Male Crabs than female crabs - so every female should be inseminated unless there is some wierd circumstance. One concern that I've heard raised by scientists is that there are not enough large male crabs to get the job done right. Young, newly mature males may be spread too thin.

[Offshore12]

If your living was dependent upon having a Bay full of crabs, why would you keep a female crab??

[JALOPY]

I have caught doublers, that were mature female and a mature Male. I think females continue to molt and continue to get laid.

[C-Hawk18]

I have caught doublers, that were mature female and a mature Male. I think females continue to molt and continue to get laid.

How did you know it was a mature male? Are you basing it on size? or it there some other way that you are determining this?


Also - you thought wrong.....
They ONLY mate once. They may continue to produce offspring multiple times, but only mate from the immature to mature molt.

[steve waters]

I have caught doublers, that were mature female and a mature Male. I think females continue to molt and continue to get laid.

They only mate after their final moult while they are still soft.
Read the book "Beautiful Swimmers"