Pea crabs in oysters

There is a lot of NOPE in that article

We used to see them all the time in Charleston. I've eaten them raw, roasted, & fried in butter. It's just extra protein.

What is commonly called a pea crab in south LA looks exactly like a blue crab in miniature. It's callinectes similias, so named bc it's so similar to the usual blue crab callinectes sapidus. I spent a pretty crappy semester in the basement of the old Life Sciences building feeding those damn little crabs for a hypoxia avoidance experiment.

Anyway, I've never encountered one of the locally named pea crabs inside an oyster, but I don't have volume experience w oysters.

I bought some in the North to shuck and they freaked me out. Never heard of them. They were orange and looked sort of like roe, until they unfurled their legs and started traipsing about my kitchen counter. I had no idea what to do with them so I tossed them outside into the snow.