PHUM RIANG, Thailand — The sea is quiet except for the swish of the longtail boat cutting sharply through the waves. Fishermen Sutham Abmanee and Komsan Witan, from Phum Riang in Thailand’s Surat Thani province, set out at 7 a.m., just as they do every day. When they reach the right spot, Sutham starts to pull out the nets he’d set the night before. They’re strung with silvery sea bass, tiny golden starfish, and blue swimming crabs. The men expertly pluck them out, keeping the valuable catch and dropping the rest back into the ocean. Blue swimming crabs (Portunus pelagicus), instantly recognizable by their long blue pincers (green-brown in females), are at the top of the “valuable” list. But they won’t all be sold. Sutham holds a crab upside down in the palm of his hand. A female, her underside is covered with a spongy, bright orange substance: eggs, millions and millions of eggs. “When they are this color we know that they will take a few days to hatch,” he says, gently placing the crab in a bucket of water. “We need to take her to the bank.” Komsan Witan holds an egg-carrying female blue swimming crab. The orange color of her eggs signals they’re just days away from hatching. Image by Ana Norman Bermúdez for Mongabay. Blue swimming crab populations in Thailand Blue swimming crabs are found across Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and their meat is considered a delicacy in many parts of the world. But for…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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