Male vs Female Blue Crab (What’s the difference?)
Have you ever wondered what the difference between a male and female crab is? Well, I’m here to help with that. I went crabbing on Taylor’s Island last season and took a few pictures, one where I caught a male and female crab in the same trap! Take a look:
The physical difference between male and female crabs are their apron and claw colors. Males have a long, straight apron while females have wide, dome-shaped aprons. Females also have red-tipped pincher claws, which commercial crabbers call a crab’s lipstick.
One easy way to remember is the old saying, a male has the Washington Monument while the female has the capitol building. The shape of their aprons look just like these landmarks in DC.
The crabs in that image are blue crabs, which you’ll find on the East Coast of the United States. If you’re crabbing in Australia, you’ll have the blue swimmer crab and mud crab. If you’re on the U.S. West Coast, you’ll find Dungeness Crabs. It doesn’t matter what crab you’re after, all the males have a long and straight apron while females have a rounded one.
Male blue crabs have a pointed apron.
The image above is a small male blue crab I caught at Holt’s Landing Pier in Delaware. It’s one of my many crabbing spots you can read about in my Crabbing Spot Directory.
This crab recently molted, which makes its white underbelly very white and clear to look at. It’s underbelly is another word for abdomen. In the center of its abdomen, you can see a narrow pointed “apron.” That is the main differentiator between male and female crabs.
A common analogy in Maryland is that the male apron on a crab looks like the Washington Monument, while the female’s apron looks like the Capitol Building (Source).
Female crabs have a wide and round apron.
I caught this female crab in Taylor’s Island, MD. What’s awesome about this crab is you can clearly see her two distinct features:
- Her abdomen is rounded, unlike the narrow pointed apron on a male blue crab
- Her claws are bright red. Crabbers call this the crab’s lipstick. It’s a clear differentiator between male and female crabs
Expert crabbers use the lipstick trick to separate the two without looking at each crab’s underbelly. This is important because many states restrict the catch of female crabs to protect their populations. If you’d like to read your state’s crabbing regulations, I put together a directory of each: Crabbing Rules & Regulations by State.
Females may also have eggs!
As you get into crabbing, you’ll hear about sponge crabs. Female crabs when they have eggs have a large mass between their apron and shell that looks like an orange sponge. These are eggs which house thousands of future baby crabs.
I’ve never caught a sponge crab, but I’ve found an image online:
To protect our crab population, be sure to return a sponge crab if you catch one!
