# Question about scarlet king crab

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-scarlet-king-crab/701857>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 19, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-scarlet-king-crab/701857 "2014-10-19T21:53:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lemmytheseal2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@Lemmytheseal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemmytheseal2)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-scarlet-king-crab/701857/1 "2014-10-19T21:53:19Z")

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I’m essentially vegetarian, so this question comes from simple curiosity. Apparently there are three kinds of king crab that are fished commercially: red, blue, and golden. There’s another variety, the scarlet king crab, that is too small and too (apparently) rare to be commercially exploited, _but the meat is said to be tasty_.

That means that it’s eaten occasionally, right? So, how does that happen? [This post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15875982&highlight=bycatch#post15875982) mentions that some fish markets and restaurants in the Gulf of Mexico sell bycatch on an ad hoc basis. Does it work the same way in Alaska, and nearby? Do the ship crews tell their buyers about any scarlets they happen to catch, and then do the markets and/or restaurants put it on a dry erase board, or perhaps send out a tweet: “Two scarlets! First come, first served!”?

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-scarlet-king-crab/701857/2 "2014-10-19T22:00:13Z")

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The USCG can and do board vessels for law enforcement inspections. Fishers are subject to huge fines if they have out-of-season specimens, wrong gender ones, over-limit catches, etc.

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**Author:** ![Lemmytheseal2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@Lemmytheseal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemmytheseal2)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-scarlet-king-crab/701857/3 "2014-10-19T22:22:51Z")

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> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> The USCG can and do board vessels for law enforcement inspections. Fishers are subject to huge fines if they have out-of-season specimens, wrong gender ones, over-limit catches, etc.

Sure, but I didn’t read anything about the law being involved. They are just impractical.