crab eggs a viale food source?

[M88A2]

* that should be viable...
I was out crab fishing the other day and caught a few female blue crabs with some eggs. Some were orange and others were brown to black. Now i have heard of oyster eggs and fish roe (the tiny kind in sushi) being used to feed corals and fish. Can i do the same with the crab eggs?

 

[sjfishguy]

I don't see why not, but you should be throwing females back, especially the one with eggs. Many states it is illegal to harvest egg bearing females, not sure about Virginia. Even the professional crabbers in here in NJ throw the egg bearers back, you really shouldn't keep them for the good of the crab fishery.

 

[Mangodude]

If I find shrimp that have eggs I'll ocasionally keep them and I think the chromis get a treat out of it.. I don't know about crabs though, I agree with Rich, throw the crabs back, there's enough pressure on them already.

 

[M88A2]

sjfishguy, thats what my buddies and i were thinking too. In fact the fist several we caught we threw back cause they had eggs. It wasnt till later that night that we found out we could keep the females after july passed, according to the people that ran the dock. But I do see your point, none of us were aware of the state that the crabs were in and this this was our first time crabbing. I'll def be throwing back the females in the future, thnx.