Pea Crabs...Not From The Gulf!

   Now here is a "horror" story for all you readers who enjoy that sort of thing!  Not really but it might turn the stomach of those prone to queasiness.  Instead, this is a story about just another part of the life of an oyster.  Down here, oysters are a big thing.  Most local folks can be found with an oyster bench, shucking knife and a huge pile of shells in their yards.  Personally, I do not like the smell so the oysters have to be shucked far down the hill near the marsh.  The stench gets really bad after a few days so I just as soon have it as far away from the house as I can get it.  Also, personally, I do not care for oysters.  I may eat a few if they are tiny and if they are fried really crispy.  I am definitely NOT going to eat a raw one.  That said, I could do without even having them anywhere nearby.  Still, Mark likes them so that mound of shells is a fixture to be reckoned with.

  This afternoon, he came home with a few oysters and proceeded down the hill to open them.  He called to me and told me to walk down to where he was.  There, he handed me a tiny crab.  He was confused as to why there was a crab IN his oysters.  Yep, he found more so it was not just a fluke.  The fluke was...he had been sold the oysters as Gulf oysters...they are not.

  The tiny crabs are called pea crabs and they are parasites that crawl into the gills an oyster and feed upon whatever happens to filter into the shellfish.  (Oysters use their gills for feeding not breathing.)  If times are good and there is a lot of food filtering through, the oyster is fine but if times are lean, the pea crab still eats and the oyster gets very little.  The crab never actually kills its host but does sometimes make it thin and sickly.   That said "fluke" comes from the fact that pea crabs are not found in the Gulf of Mexico.  They are found out in the Atlantic so oysters containing the small crabs are definitely not locally harvested.

  Now comes another fluke...one by me.  I had no idea about these round, little crabs until I did a bit of research.  When I was handed the critters and saw they were still alive, I did what any critter loving person would do...I released them into the shallows.  Was this a good idea?  Probably not but it all ended well...sort of...maybe.  As soon as I dropped those pea-sized crabs into the inch of water, they were struggling to grab ahold to something.  They are not accustomed to being free from their secure house of an oyster shell.  I watched for a few moments then had to laugh as the Snowy Egret darted in for a meal...three pea crabs released....three pea crabs consumed. 

As for that "not being accustomed to being free" statement, only the male crabs actually swim about.  The females remain their entire lives inside their host's shell.  The male will come to visit and the female actually lays her eggs inside the oyster.  The tiny larva form is spewed out with the oyster "spat" or oyster spawn.  Mama Pea Crab keeps on feeding until the next male crab comes to visit and the cycle is repeated.  

  So...now you know what pea crabs are, where they are found and what they are doing inside an oyster.  Just another reason for me to not like oysters...parasites!