8/2/2023 0 Comments Dungeness crab clusters![]() ![]() Shoreline: Almost all sandy-shore beaches north of Half Moon Bay will see Dungeness, as will areas inside of bays from Tomales Bay north.īoats: An important goal for boaters from Half Moon Bay north. Given the pier’s location, the Dungeness was illegal and was returned to the water. Although a common catch at piers inside San Francisco Bay, and even into San Pablo Bay, it is illegal to keep Dungeness in these bays.Ī Dungeness taken by illcatchanything (Brian Linebarger) at the Fort Baker Pier that sits inside San Francisco Bay. ![]() Best piers seem to be the Pacifica Pier, Lawson’s Landing Pier (Tomales Bay), almost any pier in Humboldt Bay, and either of the two piers at Crescent City. Of course if I had been crabbing (which I wasn’t) I would have had no complaints. I finally had to switch to artificial lures to keep the crabs off my line. On one of my trips to Eureka nearly every cast saw a crab latch on to the bait. In these far northern waters Dungeness are common and at times a nuisance. Many rivers along the north coast see an influx of Dungeness during late winter and early spring months, and harbors and bays are active spawning grounds for Dungeness. Most pier-caught Dungeness are taken on piers from Pacifica north. Piers: Most commonly found on piers that sit over a sand or mud bottom. Dungeness are scavengers that will almost anything their preferences are clams, other crustaceans and small fish. Estuaries are important to their life cycle and they inhabit all such areas between Morro Bay and Puget Sound, Washington. Habitat: Recorded from intertidal depths down to 750 feet but are most common on sandy and mud bottoms from 60 to 300 feet deep. As a general rule, the farther north you go the better your chance for netting crabs.ĭungeness crabs at the Pacifica Pier taken by Matt Shockley In California, adults are rarely seen south of Point Conception most common from Monterey Bay north. Range: Bahia Magdelena, Baja California, to Unalaska, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands (some sources say to the Pribilof Islands in Alaska). Size: To 9.8 inches across the back for males (most less than 8 inches), females to 6.5 inches. Small Dungeness crabs at the B Street Pier in Crescent City The color of the Dungeness is generally light reddish brown to gray on the back (often with light streaks and spots), with a purplish wash anteriorly the underside is whitish to light orange, the inner and upper sides of the anterior legs with crimson or purple. In both male and female, the tip of the last segment of the tail flap is rounded (unlike other crabs in this group). ![]() Once inside the crab’s stomach, food is further digested by a collection of tooth-like structures called the “gastric mill.” The last three joints of the last pair of walking legs have a comb-like fringe of hair on the lower edge, and the joint previous to these has hair on both top and bottom edges, but with a much greater amount on the top edge. They use their smaller appendages to pass the food particles into their mouth. The crabs use these claws for defense and to rip apart their food. The top edges of the claws, and the upper pincers have sawtooth-like serrations that contain more than a dozen teeth along each edge. Unlike most of their cousins, Dungeness have white-tipped pincers on the claws (chelipeds). Identification: Dungeness are trapezium-shaped crabs with a wide, long, hard carapace (shell), and five pairs of legs. Its common name comes from the town once called Dungeness in Washington (today it’s called Old Town). Until clarified, this is the traditional classification.Īlternate Name: Market crab. Species : Cancer magister (Dana, 1852) Some scientists, based on the shapes of the teeth of the carapace, have called for a new genus name Metacarcinus which would mean a scientific name of Matacarcinus magister. Photo ID courtesy of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Subphylum Crustacea (Crustaceans) - Order Decapoda (Crabs, Lobster, Shrimp) - Family Cancridae (Cancer Crabs) - Genus Cancer ![]()
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