Species sheet · The Edible Ocean
European spider crab
A lanky old gentleman who has mislaid something.
- Cooked in court-bouillon and served warm
- Leg meat in a salad
- The coral spread on toast
- In French
- Araignée de mer
- Scientific name
- Maja squinado
- In the water
- Rocky bottoms and seagrass of the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, from the shore to 150 metres.
- Season & buying
- Autumn and winter, when it moves inshore to moult.
- Common length
- ~20 cm
- How to identify it
- Pear-shaped carapace spined around its rim
Two horns pointing forward
Legs out of all proportion to the body
On the plate
Fine, deeply fragrant meat, more delicate than brown crab.
Avoid: Overcooking. The thin legs dry out before the body is done.
It migrates in single file over tens of kilometres, each animal clinging to the one ahead, forming columns of several hundred crabs.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
