"please someone respond a.s.a.p." crabs

okay, we just got a bushell of live crabs and they were put on ice for the drive home(6 hours!).when we got here, none of them were alive,they couldn't have been that way for more than an hour or 2.is it safe to cook them.i think that they may either have gone into shock or have froze to death and still be frozen.im about to try one in a second.i hope they're good.please reply as soon as youi read this if you know anything.
Thanks,
Dwyler-J

If they were heavily iced down they are probably in a drowsy state, here in MD that's how a lot of the crab houses keep them so they can pack the steamer pots quickly. Check their eyes & mouths for movement, little bubbles around the mouth. If they are definitely dead, I wouldn't chance it. Crabs are bottom feeders & they go bad quickly once dead. Not knowing how long they had been dead could be risky. You could give it a try if it's only an hour but do it at your own risk.

It is safe to cook them. They probably drowned......the ice melting. I worked for a lobster/crab company in Boston. Your crabs are good even though they're not kickin' mad. Cook them up and shuck out the meat and enjoy.

Dumb question #1: Why would anyone ice them if they are live? Not sure about hard shells, but I've seen soft shells packed live in wet seaweed for days and kept alive and very edible.

We used to ice down lobsters and crabs when I worked at Yankee Lobster (I know, but somebody here HAD to do it! ) but always admonished the buyer that this was a temporary condition that should be removed when the lobsters or crabs arrived at their destination. Otherwise, drowning would result, as these critters do not take to melted ice.
BT, that is not a dumb question, but in hot weather ice is preferred to killing them by heat. And yes, soft shells are packed in seaweed but constant refrigeration is necessary for those fragile and delectable little guys.

I would cook them up asap,as long as they are good and chilled should not be a problem.

quote:

Originally posted by BT

Dumb question #1: Why would anyone ice them if they are live?

It's humane.

Here is some information about the storage & keeping of blue crabs from the Blue Crab web site http://www.blue-crab.org/buying_hards.htm

"Storage
Hard blue crabs are always marketed live. Crabs that have perished in transit should be immediately discarded since there is no reliable way to determine the degree of spoilage. Motion and heat are the biggest factors affecting the blue crabs mortality.

The best way to store a hard-shell crab is in a cool, moist environment. It is important to store live crabs at a 50-degree temperature. Holding live crab in a standard refrigerator (36-degrees) will ultimately kill the product. While producers suggest that the shelf life for hard-shell crabs is 2 - 3 days that includes all of the shipping and processing time.

Crabs use their gills to take oxygen out of the water, much like a fish. However, crabs can survive for long periods out of water. As long as a crab can keep its gills moist, oxygen from the air will diffuse into the moisture, and then into the gills. To keep a crabs gills from drying out, store them in a cool, moist environment. Crabs have articulating plates around their gills that help seal them in and prevent drying out.

When you buy (or catch) live crabs, you should place them in a suitable container. A cooler with a layer of ice on the bottom is best. Optimal temperature is 50-degrees. Fasten a shelf to keep the crabs out of any melted ice water. If the crabs get into this water they'll quickly deplete the water's oxygen and will suffocate (for this same reason you should not keep live crabs in a bucket of water). Be sure to keep the lid cracked so that fresh air can get in. Alternatively, you can store the crabs in a wooden bushel basket, covered with a damp burlap sack, and out of direct sunlight"

quote:

Originally posted by lleechef
And yes, soft shells are packed in seaweed but constant refrigeration is necessary for those fragile and delectable little guys.

Maybe what confused me is that fact that we have natural "refrigeration" here (summertime temp about 65 degrees)--I've never seen 'em iced or refrigerated in local markets, just kept damp (with seaweed or burlap as you describe).