# Piranha vs Blue Crab? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piranha-vs-blue-crab/496349 "2009-05-13T22:01:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piranha-vs-blue-crab/496349/1 "2009-05-13T22:01:51Z")
Aside from the fresh water / salt water disconnect, who would win in a head to head battle? [Piranha](http://places.mongabay.com/south_america/piranha_hands.jpg)or [blue crab](http://www.bluecrab.info/identification.html)The piranha has the speed and agility to swim out of a lot of situations, but the blue crab has sharp, extremely fast claws and a tough, barbed shell. I’m going with the crab. Unless the piranhas could flip him over, then maybe it would have a chance. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piranha-vs-blue-crab/496349/2 "2009-05-14T03:53:20Z")
It depends on how intelligent piranhas are, they are a schooling fish and are braver in numbers, a lone piranha tends to be timid… I had a pet Green Spotted pufferfish a while ago, his favorite food was crawfish, puffers have one of the highest brain-to-body-weight ratio of any aquarium fish, they’re one of the smartest pet fish Zaphod, my puffer, would follow a deliberate attack plan when eating crawfish… 1; bite off the claws 2; bite off the eyes 3; killing bite at the base of the carapace 4; enjoy tasty crawfish if the piranha was able to bite off the blue crab’s claws, there would be no contest, once declawed, the crab would be essentially defenseless if the crab could score a vital hit on the piranha, it’d stand a good chance of winning, given equal intelligence, I’d lean more towards the piranha, if it can declaw the crab ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piranha-vs-blue-crab/496349/3 "2009-05-14T05:28:18Z")
I’ll go with the blue crab on this one. The piranha is scary looking but when it’s alone, it wouldn’t even go near the crab. ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piranha-vs-blue-crab/496349/4 "2009-05-14T06:31:37Z")
Is this duel gonna be before or after the crab molts ? 'cause crabs are pretty wimpy during soft-shelled-crab season. But the Piranha of course being a fresh water fish doesn’t know that. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piranha-vs-blue-crab/496349/5 "2009-05-14T07:21:33Z")
The viewing audience. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piranha-vs-blue-crab/496349/6 "2009-05-14T11:18:14Z")
> [@T.Slothrop](#): > > Is this duel gonna be before or after the crab molts ? 'cause crabs are pretty wimpy during soft-shelled-crab season. > > But the Piranha of course being a fresh water fish doesn’t know that. Being molting season I thought it was an apt Op. But, for arguments sake, the crab would be fully armored. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piranha-vs-blue-crab/496349/7 "2009-05-14T13:08:35Z")
At one point in my life, my job included caring for an oscar fish. He’d gulp down crayfish and fiddler crabs whole, if they’d fit in his mouth. Otherwise, he’d follow the same strategy of biting off appendages as MacTech’s puffer.