Black stuff on cooked dungies

The black color meat is from decomposition.  Some reasons are:
#1 Unhealthy crab at the time of cooking
#2 insufficient cook time
#3 insufficient refrigeration right after cooking.

This time of year more of the crabs are unhealthy. Black spots are one clue but it's also how they act. Steaming crabs can be tricky as far as timing. Using a high output burner gives more consistent cook times. I steAm 18-20 minutes.  As far as storing, I disagree with Rey that storing them cleaned makes a difference. I have tried it both ways and the uncleaned whole crab storage worked better for me which is the way commercial crabs are stored. Ice them down right after cooking then into the frig but don't cover them with Anything. Covering slows the cooling and the condensation promotes bacterial growth and spoilage.

The black color meat is from decomposition.  Some reasons are:

Is it?  I always assumed it was melanin due to the huge role of phenoloxidase in arthropod immune responses.

(hurray for 8 semesters of biochem  )

The black appears over time after being cooked. Hard to have an immune response after cooking.

The black appears over time after being cooked. Hard to have an immune response after cooking.

Oh, we must be talking about different black stuff. The black spots that I am used to seeing are immediately visible after cooking (I havent opened an uncooked crab to see if they are there pre-cooking).  Crab meat in our house doesn't last more than 30 min if Linda has anything to do with it. 

I have to crabbing now, not only am I hungry, but inquiring minds want to know! 

I have to crabbing now, not only am I hungry, but inquiring minds want to know! 

Crabbing for science!