Jonah crab (Boreal cancer) is a species of crab native to the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada. They are docile by crab standards and will tolerate being handled without attacking. My colleagues at Maritime Gloucester call them “gentle Jonahs”. They look very similar to another type of common “cancer” crab, the rock crab (injected cancer) having the same brownish red color on the upper part of the shell. Jonah grows larger than rock crabs and has much larger claws with black tips. Rock crabs are also a commercial species, often sold as “peekeytoe” crabs, but the Jonah crab is harvested in larger quantities.
How Jonah crabs are harvested
Historically, Jonah crabs were bycatch in lobster fisheries. Over the course of my life, these crabs have gone from being something we sold to restaurants or gave to Grandpa to a part of the catch. Southern New England lobstermen are catching fewer lobsters, but fortunately crabs are becoming more popular. The legal size for commercial harvest is a carapace width of 4.75 inches or greater, meaning the vast majority of Jonah crabs caught are the larger males.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission noticed this trend and initiated the Interstate Fisheries Management Plan for Jonah crab in 2015. Federal regulations for the commercial harvest of Jonah crab began in 2019. To complement the plan Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s interstate fisheries management for the Jonah crab and in accordance with the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act, NOAA Fisheries has approved federal measures for the Jonah crab fishery management plan .
There is currently no stock assessment or established biological reference points for stocks and, as a result, we do not know whether crabs are overfished or whether overfishing is occurring. Harvesting aside, the greatest threat to this species is probably the invasive green crab boom all along the New England coast.
Buy Jonah Crabs
If a fish market or co-op sells American lobster, there’s a good chance they also sell Jonah crabs. Just like lobster, you can often purchase whole live crabs. Unlike lobster, you may also find refrigerated or frozen crab claws for sale. These are the so-called “cocktail claws”. Compared to blue crabs or Dungeness crabs, Jonah crabs don’t have as much meat in their carapace. Cleaning enough to use in a recipe can be time-consuming, so some markets now sell containers of cleaned meat, as they do for blue crab.
The claws contain crab meat that is white, flaky and sweet as you would expect. Steaming a pot of claws can also be a fun social occasion, similar to a clambake. Another option is to steam the claws and use the meat to make a bisque or crab corn soup. They may not be known for large chunks of crab meat, but Jonah’s are a bargain compared to other species. One of my favorite local co-ops regularly sells Jonah crabs for about $1 each.
Historic recipe: Newburg style crab (1937)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup of milk
- 2 tablespoons of flour
- 1 cup of heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 cup flaked crabmeat
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 3 tablespoons sherry
- pepper
Melt the butter. Add the flour, salt, pepper and paprika and mix well. Add the milk and stir continuously until thick. Add the cream and crab meat and cook well. Add the beaten egg yolks and cook for another three minutes, stirring gently. If desired, add sherry just before serving.
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