Sugar Crab

The sugar crab is a small, brightly-colored crustacean, native to the warmer waters of the West, dwelling mostly in the shallower waters close to the shoreline. It has six legs and a pair of claws for crushing and tearing, and its shell is glossy white, streaked with stripes in bright colours.

Sugar crabs are known for their aggressive mating, occuring in the month of Ascending Air following Calibration. The crabs are hemaphroditic, with male sex organs in their claws, and engage in duels with prospective mates. The winner rips off a claw and absconds with it, laying its own eggs and using the claw to fertilize them. As they do not grow back their claws, this means sugar crabs can fertilize eggs only twice in their lives.

Culinarily, the sugar crab’s flesh is not particularly remarkable, but its shell is of value to some in the West as, when cleaned and boiled down in fresh water, it creates a sweet, syrupy liquid, with a very slight fishy taste. On isolated or barren islands lacking in sweet fruiting plants, sugar beets, or sugarcane, sugar crab syrup provides a sweet element in cooking. Their shells are also valued by some island tribes for making decorative necklaces and gorgets.

Source: Henry Selick