Brown Box Crab

Description:

The crab body is reddish brown and its body is about 6-7 inches in width and about 5 inches in length. The eyes are difficult to see in left photo, but visible in photo to right. The photo shows 2 mouth parts. In the foreground are a pair of jaws used to hold the food and in the backgound the parts which break the food into small bits and put them into the crab's mouth.

Habitat:

This crab lives in the coastal waters within the protected tribal waters of the Annette Island Reserve. The Reserve is a part of the Metlakatla Indian Community, the only Indian Reservation in the state of Alaska.This crab was trapped in the shallow waters close to shore. Pieces of grass in the trap indicate it was in a grassy environment.

Notes:

The crab is a subsistence foods for the Metlakatla Indian Community. The crab was trapped with the permission of Metlakatla Indian Community for the purposes of environmental awareness. The crab was released back into the environment. 7/8/2015 Name changed to Brown box crab. Reference: http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/cra...