Some are delicious to eat, some live thousands of feet underwater, some are the size of a fingernail. Step into the world of these curious crustaceans. A member of the cast of The Two Gentlemen of Verona is a dog called Crab.
The only canine to appear in a Shakespearean play, Crab is a naughty dog. He steals a chicken and widdles on a lady’s dress. His master, Lance, says: ‘I think Crab, my dog, be the sourest-natured dog that lives.
’ It was in Shakespeare’s time that bad-tempered people were first described as being crabby. Real crabs can certainly appear rather grumpy. If you find one of these crustaceans at the beach hunkering in a rockpool, it will likely either scuttle away sideways and hide in some seaweed or stand its ground and brandish a pair of pinching claws at you, hoping you’ll be scared enough to leave it alone.
Get to know them, however, and there’s a lot more to the 60 or so species of crabs that live around the British coast. Among the most familiar and easily recognisable is the brown crab ( Cancer pagurus ) also known as the edible crab, with its chunky, oval-shaped shell and that distinctive crimped, pie-crust edge. They’re the most important commercial species of crab in Europe, with more than 10,000 tons caught each year in the English Channel.
Traps and pots used to catch them take advantage of the fact that, like many crabs, they are not fussy eaters and will feast on anything they find with their highly tuned sense of smell — mussels, .
