Oh gawd. You couldn't pay me enough $$$ to eat a crabe that was cooked whole. Nasty!

Can you say TOXINS? Hmmmm. The crab muscle is fine, it's the gut and shell exterior that you need to consider. Whatever is in that gut, and on that shell, will now be in your nice clean meat, when cooked. I guess that is one of the downsides to having a fisheries degree. Some knowledge I wish I just didn't have....

I always clean the crabes first. Do was Berkley Boy75 said to do. Or, if you're good, you can grab half the legs with one hand, and with the other, reach down and grab the lower side of the carapus and lift up. The crabes top will pop right off. Gotta be quick, or the crabes tend to reach over with their free pincher and whack your finger! I do this at a dock, or beach, where I don't have access to a bucket. Once the crabe has had it's noggen knocked off, split the crabe in half over the bucket. This will give you a handfull of legs in each hand. Clean out the gills and shake any and all guts out of each section. Wash each half THOROUGHLY in cold, fresh water. Use your fingers, or a sponge and wash the exterior of the crab. Re-rinse.

In boiling water with a cup full of sea-salt added, boil the crab halfs for 8 minutes. Yummy!

PS. Any raw oyster eaters out there? Probably should re-consider, and cook them first. You won't find *ANY ONE* at the UW School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences eating raw oysters any more (Ok, except Ken Chew. . Recent, and compelling studies are showing that there are many nasties in raw oyesters. So much so, that you should be concerned....thats *all* oysters in our state in *all* waters.