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Mud Crab (Scylla
serrata) Photographs
and Information
Mud Crab is also known as
Mangrove Crab, Muddy and Black Crab.
Mud crabs are large crabs with a smooth, broad carapace. They have 9
even sized teeth on each side of their eyes. Their two hind legs are flattened for
swimming. In the most common form, the colour varies from very dark brown to mottled
green. The other, generally smaller form has a deeper body and is reddish brown.
In Australia, mud crabs inhabit tropical to warm temperate waters from
Exmouth in Western Australia up and around to the Bega River in southern New South Wales.
Mudcrabs inhabit sheltered estuaries, the tidal reaches of some rivers,
mud flats and mangrove forests, although females carrying eggs are present in deeper
waters up to 50 kilometres offshore. These crabs favour a soft, muddy bottom, often
below low tide level.
Mating occurs when the female mud crab is in the soft-bodied condition
following moulting. Female mud crabs in Australian populations migrate offshore to
spawn and are rarely seen. 2 to 8 million eggs are produced in each spawning.
Female crabs incubate the eggs for 2 to 4 weeks under their abdominal flap.
For more information on the cycle of the Mudcrab
click here PDF
format
Mud crabs live for up to 3 years.
Juvenile mud crabs eat planktonic animals, benthic molluscs and
crustaceans of various types. Adults feed at night on a variety of bivalve and gastropod
molluscs including mussels,
pipies, small crabs and polychaete worms. Mud crabs are also attracted to dead fish
and meat in traps. The mud crab's large claws are used for crushing and cutting
their prey. If they lose a claw, they may grow another one in successive moults.
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Mud Crabs are caught in wire mesh pots baited with meat or fish.
Mudcrabs are also a bycatch of the coastal set gillnet fishery for barramundi and
threadfin salmon.
Live mudcrabs are sold on the local markets and also exported.
Minimum size applies in all states. Females in berry (with eggs) are
protected in New South Wales and all females are protected in Queensland and Western
Australia.
Scientific Name
Scylla serrata
Location
WA, NT, QLD, NSW
Season
All year round
Size
To 3.5 kg
Australian Species Code
00 702001
Taste, Texture
Delicate sweet taste. Medium to firm texture.
Nutritional Information
For every 100 grams raw product
for Crab meat.
Video from Queensland Seafood showing
the Mud Crab Fishery:
Video of Mud Crab Tying competitions!
Cooking
Mud Crab:
Mud Crabs
are also swimmer Crabs, are found mainly on the muddy bottoms of shallow coastal
mangroves. A number of closely related Mud Crabs, are differentiated by colour,
but the Giant Mud Crab (Scylla serrata), with its dark blue-green to mottled
brown shell, is by far the major species in Australia. Most common in
Queensland, where only the males are caught, they are available year round.
Supply peaks from January to April in Queensland and NSW and from May to August
in the NT. They have large front legs and developed claws and generally weigh
500g-1kg. They’re mostly sold live (as they can live out of water for days) but
are also available cooked. It is best not to buy dead uncooked Mud Crabs as it’s
difficult to determine their quality. They yield about 25% meat, largely from
the front claws, and are high priced with sweet flesh that has a slightly
stronger flavour and firmer texture than that of other Crabs.
Cooking Tips:
For live crabs allow 10 minutes per 500g to cook. Steam or boil
in salted water.
Mud crabs are harvested by professional fishers
throughout the Queensland coast from Southport to Karumba, and generate almost
$10 million in wharf value to the States economy. Mud crabs are sold mostly as
an icon species to the tourist and restaurant trade.
Juvenile mud crabs eat planktonic animals, benthic molluscs and
crustaceans of various types. Adults feed at night on a variety of bivalve and gastropod
molluscs including 
