After spending a few months frozen in my freezer, mom decided it was time to cook the stone crabs (Myomenippe hardwickii). I caught from nearby Kong Kong river-mouth town in Johor. These crabs are also known as 'thunder' crabs by local chinese as they say that once their pincers grip you, they wont let go unless there is the shocking sound of thunder! It is also been said that only the claws can be eaten as the bodies are poisonous... hmm sounds a little dodgy to me so I had a snoop around the internet.From what I found, it seems that fishermen only eat the claws and most of them get dumped back into the sea with one claw or none... A Malay fisherman at Kong Kong I met had told me if you eat the body you get 'mabuk' which means drunk. So maybe they might be slightly poisonous, giving a hallucinogenic effect much like the famed puffer fish 'fugu' of Japan. These two other species however are poisonous.
.jpg)
Red egg crabs (Atergatis integerrimus) can sometimes be mistaken for the stone crab..jpg)
And this death dealer, Mosaic Crab (Lophozozymus+pictor) is super super poisonous!!! Notice all these crabs have black tipped claws...
Ok so I cleaned up the claws and cleaned up the body of 1 crab just to see if the myth was true. One of the female crabs had those eggs just like the first picture. Steamed them with some light soy sauce for 4-5 minutes. Meat was very sweet, flavour was better than flower crabs! But due to freezing, the meat turned out a little grainy but still texture was good! The crab roe, slightly smaller than ebikko but similiar color were very good, like the flavour of the sea as you crunched on them.
Lack of pics as my hands were covered with crab meat.
Mom thought she felt a bit 'high' after eating them, though I was the only one who ate the body of the crab. So far after 1 hour still no effect. I think the haze and smoke today is making me feel worse than the yummy crabs. Will definitely go catch more with my new crabbing equipment soon!
Like your story. I caught a couple of these thunder crabs at Punggol beach many years ago and the taste was so memorable that after reading your story, I am keen to share my experience likewise. The pincers were meaty and tasty, and they tasted better than the mud and flower crabs.
ReplyDeleteFor thunder crabs, only the pincers can be eaten. The body is poisonous and there isn't much meat. The correct way to eat is to dispose the body first before cooking the pincers, steaming is preferred. If you steam the crab as a whole, there is a chance you may get poisoned. It won't kill you but it will make you mabuk or high.
As for the sound of thunder part, well, the pincers are so big that you know if kena gripped, might have to go A&E first and not to listen for the thunder!