Head to head
Velvet Swimming Crab vs Edible Crab
Velvet Swimming Crab
VS Edible Crab
The velvet swimming crab and the edible crab share the rocky shores and shallow seabeds of the north-eastern Atlantic, and both are caught in pots, but they could hardly be less alike.
| Velvet Swimming Crab | Edible Crab | |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Necora puber | Cancer pagurus |
| Relationship | A swimming crab, with paddle-like back legs | A true crab with a broad shell, in a different family |
| Size | A shell about 8 to 10 cm across | A shell up to around 25 cm across, with males carrying larger claws than females |
| Shell | Covered in fine, velvety hairs, usually dark brown to blue-grey, with bright red eyes and blue lines on its legs and claws | A broad, reddish-brown shell with a neatly scalloped edge, like the crimped edge of a pie crust |
| Swimming | Its last pair of legs are flattened into paddles for swimming | A walker, with no swimming paddles |
| Temper | Aggressive, quick to raise its claws at anything that threatens it, hence the name devil crab | Uses its large black-tipped claws to crush shells and to defend itself |
| Diet | Mussels, barnacles, small crabs, fish, and seaweed | Mussels, whelks, other molluscs, and smaller crabs, cracked open with its claws |
| Fishery | Caught in pots, mostly for the Spanish and French markets | Caught in pots in large numbers in one of the most important crab fisheries in Europe |
Velvet Swimming Crab vs Edible Crab: common questions
Which crab can swim?
The velvet swimming crab, whose last pair of legs are flattened into paddles, unlike the edible crab.
Why is the velvet crab called the devil crab?
It is aggressive, quick to raise its claws at anything that threatens it, and has bright red eyes.
Which one is bigger?
The edible crab, which can reach around 25 cm across the shell, while the velvet swimming crab is about 8 to 10 cm.