Rock crab question! Need help quick.

Went out crabbing today and I normally cook all my crabs ASAP! Today I threw them on ice because I had a birthday to go to.  I pulled 8 crabs out and 4 Rockies.  (Gotta love the smelly jelly/frozen chicken combo)

All the Dungeness were alive and kicking when I got back 5 hours later.  The red guys wouldn't wake up.  Do they stay dormant longer?  Did they die because the ice?

A dead crab is a bad crab, yes.  But are they dead??!  I boiled them a few minutes ago but are they good to eat?

Crabs go into a sort of hibernation when they get cold.

Some people put them in the freezer so they don't give you grief going into the boiler.

I'd say your fine. I'd eat e. 

Where did you go out and get them?

Crab will die when left to sit in the melted ice water. The freshwater kills them. The rock crab are probably still ok. You'll know if the crab went bad in that first bite.  .

So... did you eat 'em?

Whenever there is a question like this I always say the prudent thing for you to do is eat it and let us all know what happened!

Where did you go out and get them?

Halfmoon bay

And no, I decided to error on the side of not Sh!ting myself and tossed them.  It was very hard to do since they were the largest red rock crabs I have ever caught.

Next time take the crab to the birthday party, no waste.