mitten crabs

Anybody ever target the mitten crabs in or around the delta?  I know the  rules were they had to be killed  once captured. 

thanks,
Nate

They magically disappeared a couple of years after the infestation. Pretty rare to find one now.

-Brian G

Weird, must be cyclical. 

thanks. 

That or the stripers and sturgeon figured out that they could eat them. Balance in force so to speak. However I never did find a striper with one in its belly. They will eat crayfish so I would image a small crab would be prey also. Maybe the pumps cycled the fry out of the system (along with everything else).

-Brian

I was just about to say that I haven't seen a mitten crab in years.

I haven't even heard the word mitten crab mentioned in a loooong time.  Have zebra mussels taken over the Earth yet?

Looks like cooler temps and less freshwater has a lot to do with their populations. Delta conditions must be pretty bad when invasive species can't even make it. http://www-csgc.ucsd.edu/BOOKSTORE/Resources/PP2008/Tsukimura-project-profile-6-23-08.pdf

stop stop stop talking about them....they might hear and come back....

They're probably clogging up sprinkler heads in southern California t this minute.

I heard they have them back east now that would suck if they messed up the Blue Crabs

Yep, mitten crabs are on the East Coast now.  My lab at the Smithsonian is keeping track of them as they show up.
Here is the official map (it's one of the things I've made for work).

http://invasions.si.edu/mittencrabs/sites.jsp

As for the San Francisco Bay mitten crabs.  I don't know anything about their current status.  I'll check on it.

Brian

They're probably clogging up sprinkler heads in southern California t this minute.

We can only wish! 

I was wondering what happened to these booger crabs too.  I saw my first and only mitten crab in the delta about 5 years ago and haven't seen another one since.  One of the reasons dino hunters started using lamprey eel for bait back then was because of the mitten crab problem.

Aren't mitten crabs edible like their very expensive cousins in China - also known as "Shanghai hairy crab"?

http://www.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/html/en/Kaleidoscope2789bye8017.html

 

Mitten crabs can carry some type of parasite and it was recommended not to eat them. I don't  remember the details.

-Brian G

Aren't mitten crabs edible like their very expensive cousins in China - also known as "Shanghai hairy crab"?

I don't know if they're cousins.  I think they're the same ones.  That's the reason I want to find some. 

I saw some travel show episodes where they were featured.  Now I want to try some.