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Fish, Crustaceans & Cephalopods

Beche De Mer
(Sea Cucumber)

Also known as Frog Crab and Red Frog Crab.

Spanner Crabs have elongated shells, which is very broad at the front.  The first legs are "spanner" shaped and the rest are flattened and have numerous short bristles.

The spanner crab's body colour varies from orange to red.

Did you know? Spanner Crabs move in a forwards-backwards motion, unlike other crabs who move sideways.

Spanner Crabs prefer bare sandy areas.  They inhabit intertidal waters to depths of more than 100m, from sheltered bays to surf areas.

Spanner crabs remain completely buried in the sand for most of the day, but they emerge rapidly when food appears.  Spanner crabs are opportunistic feeders, ie., they eat what ever is available.  Adults eat heart sea-urchins and a variety of small bivalve molluscs, crustaceans, polychaete worms and fish.  Spanner crabs are often found in areas where there is an intensive night time prawn fishery, suggesting that discards from the trawl catch may form a significant part of their diet.

There is evidence that sharks and turtles feed on spanner crabs and turtles take advantage of crabs being caught in nets.

Male and female crab identification

Spanner Crab Closed Season - Queensland:

Cooking Spanner Crabs:
Spanner Crabs have long, almost goblet-shaped, bright orange shells (even when uncooked) and spanner-shaped front claws, are quite distinctive. Usually found close inshore, often buried in sand, they are mainly fished off NSW and Queensland from January to October, peaking from July to October with the fishery closed for most of December. They average about 400g and are usually sold cooked, although they can occasionally be found live. Although they only yield 25% meat, they are lower priced than other Crabs and some chefs prefer their distinctive flavour.

To Buy:
Available live or cooked. They are a low to medium-priced crab. Look for brightly coloured lustrous shells, free of damage with a pleasant fresh sea smell. They should feel heavy for their size.

To Store:
Use crustaceans as soon as possible after purchase. Cooked crabs should be covered and refrigerated. Live crabs should be covered with damp butchers paper and stored in a cool, dark place.

Tips & Tricks:
If you are cooking with crab you must always use an uncooked crab. (Crab meat can never be cooked twice.) The new RSPCA guidelines on how to kill live crabs state that they should be chilled in a refrigerator or freezer for a couple of hours and then killed by splitting or spiking to destroy the nerve centres. At least at your hand, you know it's died painlessly. From a culinary point of view it will taste better too.

The common boiling time (15 min) for spanner crabs is insufficient to inactivate proteolytic enzymes in the hepatopancreas which cause mushiness in the flesh. Boiling, steaming and microwave cooking conditions which did inactivate the digestive enzymes and provide acceptable shelf life were compared for effects on weight loss, sensory attributes and cadmium contents in the flesh. Steaming was a suitable alternative to boiling for spanner crabs.
 

Cooking Tips: For live crabs allow 10 minutes per 500g to cook. Steam or boil in salted water.