It’s rare when we get to see much about crab fishing in between lowering and raising the pots. Typically, it’s a pretty hands-on job, and there isn’t a whole lot of time to marvel at your catch before moving on to the next batch of buoys. Recently, though, one Dungeness crabber decided to rig his GoPro to the grates of his cages before submerging them into the water. Once the pot hit the floor with rotten chicken meat as its bait, we got to see just how these crustaceans pile into the pot for their last meal, and it starts off pretty spooky.
It takes a few moments before the bottom feeders catch on to the scent, but once they do, they are determined to get their claws on a piece of meat. The feeding frenzy begins with the crabs sticking their claws and legs through the holes of the pot. It almost resembles a scene from The Walking Dead the way the crustaceans mindlessly reach out for the zip-tied bait that’s far from their grasp. It’s not too far from seeing a wall of zombies behind a chain-link fence mimicking the same movement.
After some clever maneuvering (or maybe just luck), one crab manages to squeeze itself through the side of the cage, the first to taste victory as the remainder more frantically searched for a way in. At last, a couple of them discover the door at the front of the pot, and then the flood gates open.
The crabs then start piling on top of each other, desperately searching for a morsel of chicken meat. All the while, a variety of fish and aquatic onlookers gather around the pot before continuing on, seemingly deciding that the fight wasn’t worth the reward.
Fisherman Catches More Than Just Crab in His Pots
In another one of the fisherman’s GoPro clips, he catches some more odd crab behavior within his pots. This time, at 180 feet deep, only a couple of Dungeness crabs entered the crab pot, but these were much larger than those from shallower waters. As these monster crustaceans picked at the piece of fish dangling in a bait cage, one became curious about the camera in the back of the pot.
Suddenly, the crab moved towards the lens, almost posturing itself against the potential challenger. It slower inched closer to the camera, no longer interested in the huge hunk of meat hanging above it. This behavior is incredibly different than the previous crab trap, perhaps suggesting that these crabs have more access to food sources in deeper waters.
By the end of the clip, the creature gave us a close-up of its mandibles and claws.
Take a look.
