Advice for keeping dungeness fresh

Does anyone have advice on how to keep Dungeness crab fresh after catching them? I will probably go to LM, which is 15min drive from home, but it takes time from when you catch them to the time you cook them. I know about the aerator, but don’t like the idea of a bucket with water sloshing in my car.

Also, I read you shouldn’t eat them after they die: “One reason is because when the crab dies, its mid-gut gland (the source of food digestion enzymes) is soon attacked and damaged by those same enzymes, and then the enzymes spread out into the muscle tissue, breaking it down into mush.”
Does anyone have experience with eating crabs that didn’t survive the trip home?

You're not likely to hear much from folks who've eaten dead crabs, if you know what I mean. In all seriousness though, it's just not worth the risk of getting sick. Treat them well, keep them alive, and you'll be treated to a great meal that doesn't leave you clutching to the toilet bowl.

Unless you're driving like a crazy person, a sturdy cooler filled half full of FRESH sea water should be more than enough to get you through a 15 minute drive. A tight fitting lid on a quality cooler should not slosh water all over your car. If you're super worried about this, toss the cooler in a large trash bag to catch any wayward water. I usually try to cook them pretty quickly after getting home but when I'm planning to wait, I leave them in the cooler(lid slightly propped open) in a cool, dark spot and hook up an old aquarium filter to help keep the water aerated. From there, its just cook, clean, and eat.

I bring ice and clean em' on site.  Crab guts are nasty over time in ye ole’ garbage can.  Jam em' home and steam em'...

Just give the crabs one last dip in the ocean and throw them on top of a bag if ice in yoir cooler.  If they arent already in burlap, you can wet a burlap bag in ocean water and toss it on top of the crabs... or toss some seaweed on top of them.  Even if they dry out a little, they'll survive quite a while.  The ice mellows them out as well. 

Just like what Mark said. Burlap sac and soak them every 30 minutes. When you get back just put them on top of the ice in your cooler. I kept them a live till the next day doing that.

Crabs can survive out of water if their gills are moist, have oxygen to breathe and are cool/cold.
Back in my Ab Farm days we’d ship live dungies to customers across the country and as far away as China with excellent success.
Healthy, strong, intact crabs were a must, not just for the customer, but damaged crabs don’t live long in the water or out!
Trick was to chill them down to ~41 F, then pack them with a few shots of bottled O2 in their styrofoam box before we taped em up tight.
I’m the end, they were in those boxes for 12-36 hours and made with very little mortality.

Agreed on 15 minutes being nothing.  I bring fresh crabs from Pillar Point to San Jose numerous times per year to cook at the inlaws.  For that, I toss one scoop of ice in the bottom of a cooler, toss the crabs in there with a wet burlap sack on top and then tape two wooden blocks to the cooler lid to prop it open and allow oxygen exchange.  The idea behind burlap over a towel is that it holds moisure while also allowing air exchange due to its loose weave.  I usually do that first thing in the morning and leave them in that cooler for the entire day at the inlaws' without any issues. 

Why not just cook them at the beach and put them on ice ASAP..  15 min is nothing.... just throw ice on them.

You can fill a couple of old water or Gatorade bottles with water and freeze them. One or two of those in the crab bucket and a towel on top should keep them alive for plenty long and you don’t have the water you would get from melting ice.

I've never had Dungeness or rock crab die on me, just keep them wet and cool.  I drive from Linda Mar to SF and just put them in a game bag in a bucket with a final dunk before I take off.

I don't do what I see lots of people do and keep them in a bucket of water. 

Regarding eating dead crabs...used to live in rural village and already dead crab/lobster at times was all there was to eat.  Honestly was fine and tasted good to me     

I know what everyone says but if I had a crab die on me and I knew it just died I would eat it.  That being said crabs around here are hardy so just keep them wet.

I just clean them on the beach.  Remove carapace, remove viscera,  bag in ziploc and put it in the cooler.  Cook later when I get home.  Or cook them on the beach if someone brought a cooker.

I just clean them on the beach.  Remove carapace, remove viscera,  bag in ziploc and put it in the cooler.  Cook later when I get home.  Or cook them on the beach if someone brought a cooker.

Don't forget to keep the carapace in case you have a run in with fish and game.

Honestly, I've kept crabs for hours/the entire day out of water in a cooler, and they have always been alive when I got home. Actually prefer them to be a little lethargic so it makes dispatching them easier

I just clean them on the beach.  Remove carapace, remove viscera,  bag in ziploc and put it in the cooler.  Cook later when I get home.  Or cook them on the beach if someone brought a cooker.

Don't forget to keep the carapace in case you have a run in with fish and game.

You don’t need to do that.  Once on land you can clean them and you don’t have to save the carapace. The only thing you need to maintain in the shell is lobster (and abalone if that’s ever a thing again). 

I just clean them on the beach.  Remove carapace, remove viscera,  bag in ziploc and put it in the cooler.  Cook later when I get home.  Or cook them on the beach if someone brought a cooker.

Don't forget to keep the carapace in case you have a run in with fish and game.

You don’t need to do that.  Once on land you can clean them and you don’t have to save the carapace. The only thing you need to maintain in the shell is lobster (and abalone if that’s ever a thing again).

Hmmm, interesting! well I was always told to keep it, which make sense in terms of preventing keeping and cleaning short dungies. I never know with these rules, and the fish and wildlife site continues to be one of the more poorly maintained sites so I always try to play it safe.

Well, also not a deal breaker but the only dungie I cleaned on the beach resulted in some grains of sand in the meat. Keeping it whole definitely reduces any chance of chipping your tooth later on ha

To add this this ^^ in my mind, I was talking about when I snare for crabs. I think it would look much better to have them whole or at least the carapace than a bunch of legs if I ever run into a game warden