What are the different types of crabs served on buffets?

Question

We live in Biloxi and all the buffets served different types of crabs. What are they and what is the difference?

Answer 1

Ask what they're serving where you eat them. You can phone them or check their websites.

Answer 2

mainly snow crab as it's cheaper than dungenous crab.

Snow crab has a sweeter taste.

Answer 3

If the buffet serves whole boiled or steamed crabs that are about 5-6 inches wide from side to side (not including legs) and only an inch or so thick, those are blue crabs.  They are the hardest to get the meat out of, but most people agree they have the best flavor and sweetest meat. You get these all along the east coast and on the gulf coast.  If there are long thin leg pieces, those are king crab or snow crab legs.  People like them because they are really easy to break open and you get a pretty good amount of meat out of each leg. They grow in cold arctic waters - Alaska)  If they are big crabs (6-8 inches or more from side to side and a couple of inches thick) those are Dungeness crabs.  Easier to get the meat out of than blue crabs (you tend to get big chunks from the body) and also very tasty. These tend to come from the Pacific Northwest.  The other thing you might see are crab claws which are kind of dark in color - these are stone crab claws which come from Florida, but can also be found in the gulf coast.  In Biloxi you will see  a lot of blue crabs since they are the kind of crabs found locally.  But most buffets like to serve those snow crab legs - they freeze well and ship easily.  I personally have never seen Dungeness crabs on a buffet in a gulf coast restaurant and only occasionally seen stone crab claws, but that is pretty much the crab rundown for that area.

Answer 4

do not eat the crabs that your mom brings TO the beach

Answer 5

In Asia, we serve Hairy Shanghai Crab, swimming blue crab, giant mudcrabs, and soft shell crabs.