In a recent blog post I wrote about how snow crab goes by many names depending on the region, but in general winter on the Japan Sea means "matsuba crab," doesn't it?
According to the Kyoto Prefecture website, theories on the origin of the name "matsuba crab" include that the long, slender legs or leg muscles look like pine needles, or that fishermen burned pine needles on the beach to eat grilled crab—but the exact origin is unknown. Another site says it comes from sashimi spreading like pine needles when chilled in ice water.
Academically, though, it is a bit confusing. Snow crab is Chionoecetes opilio, family Oregoniidae, widely distributed in the Japan Sea north of Yamaguchi Prefecture, the North Pacific from Ibaraki to Canada, the Okhotsk Sea, and the Bering Sea. Meanwhile, the squat Hypothalassia armata (family Dynomenidae)—＝photo top, a specimen landed at Saiki, Oita Prefecture, from Wikipedia—is a completely different creature. Most Japanese probably think of snow crab when they hear "matsubagani" (and king crab, nearly as popular as snow crab, has eight legs—it is a hermit-crab relative, not a true ten-legged crab).
A one-point lesson in telling snow crab. Have you seen black dots on the carapace? They are eggs of a sea leech called "kanihiru"＝photo bottom. No need to worry—they do not enter the crab's body. Locally they are even said to mark tasty crab. Crabs molt repeatedly to grow, so many black dots mean the crab has grown well since its last molt, with firm meat and rich miso.
Snow crab fishing is regulated by ordinance to protect resources, with opening dates set by sea area: north of Niigata, both sexes from October 1 through May 31; west of Toyama, opening November 6, females through January 10, males through March 20. Size limits (e.g., male carapace 9 cm or more) and catch quotas by area also apply.
Opening day is eagerly awaited locally. Newspapers devise fresh angles every year. On last November's opening day, the Mainichi's Tajima edition in Hyogo ran a report sympathizing with crab boats at Tsuiyama Port=photo bottom. Doesn't crab taste all the better when you feel the breath of those who catch it through such stories?
