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Shellfish staff occasionally find (or is brought in) some funny things!
This "albino"Dungness crab was brought into the Charleston ODFW office in 2009, caught by the F/V Apache.
Though not true "albino's" a couple of white Dungness crab are found each year in the fishery. |
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| This stangely pink/purple Dungeness crab was brought into the Charleston ODFW office in 2007 |
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| This all purple Dungeness crab was brought in by the F/V Shenanegan to the Charleston ODFW office in 2009. |
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| This bi-colored Dungness crab was also brought into the Charleston ODFW office by the F/V Shenanegan in 2009. |
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| This bi-colored juvenile Dungeness crab was caught (and photographed) by recreational crabber Heather Mackinnon in 2011. |
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| This interesting polka dotted Dungeness crab was caught and photographed near Coos Bay by Jason Schattauer in 2015. |
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Juvenile red rock crab come in all sorts of colors and patterns. So this crab is actually not so weird, but certainly interesting.
This first crab is a large juvenile (~3" carapace width) and as brought into the Charleston ODFW office in 2006 by a commercial crab fishermen.
Another striking example of this was brought in to Charleston ODFW in 2016 by a commercial crab fishermen, caught in 20 fathoms. |
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Crabs have exoskeletons. To grow, they must "molt"(pictured directly below). This includes shedding all old hard body parts and squeezing out of their old shell with new soft shells. This process is very complicated, below are some interesting examples of imperfections.
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| This Dungeness crab was brought into ODFW in the 1990's. It is extremely rare, but these claw deformities are found by commercial crab fishermen every year. |
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| This Dungeness crab with a malformed leg was brought into the Charleston ODFW office in 2007 |
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| This red rock crab has an extra level of protection on its claw! It was caught during ODFW red rock crab mark/ recapture studies in 2014. |
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| This white spotted Dungeness crab was caught at Netarts bay in 2016 by Tom Wallace. It is unclear if this is natural condition or if was exposed to something such as bleach. |
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