If you buy a dozen crabs, how many empties are acceptable?

There's no way to know until you crack it open.

Gotta admit, when I saw your thread title I thought you were asking how many beers it was okay to drink with a dozen crabs.

I usually get one-two in a dozen. My wife always gets stuck with them though bc she sucks at weighing them. Never occurred to me to complain to the seafood store, honestly.

Kites are the spicy ones. The really full ones don’t season much. Pick the kites quickly.

Never understood why crabs aren't sold by the pound like almost every other type of seafood is.

Full of meat or full or boil a water, same difference to a scale

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Never understood why crabs aren't sold by the pound like almost every other type of seafood is.

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They are every where except the end consumer. The fishermen sell them to the dock by the pound. The dock sells them to wholesalers by the pound. The wholesalers sell them to the retailers by the pound. You buy them by the dozen. Dead loss is tough in the crab business.

And to whomever said you can’t tell until you open them, horseshite. They come in by the bushel. They know how much it should weigh. Then they are boxed in wax boxes. Depending on the grade, they know how much they should weigh. Literally everyone in the process of dealing with crabs know whether they are full or kites. The only ones who don’t know are the poor saps who pick up a dozen boiled crabs and get home to a bunch of empty shells.

One good way to tell, if not by feel, is to ask to see them either live or boiled. If they are dirty on the bottom...kind of muddy looking, they are full. If clean, many times they are not. It’s not a guarantee that a clean crab isn’t full, but it can get you close.

No. People shouldn't be selling empty crabs. If they do then frick those people.

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What is the best way to insure that you get a full crab?

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Go catch them yourself.

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One good way to tell, if not by feel, is to ask to see them either live or boiled. If they are dirty on the bottom...kind of muddy looking, they are full. If clean, many times they are not. It’s not a guarantee that a clean crab isn’t full, but it can get you close.

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This, exactly. A full crab is gonna have an ivory/yellowish cast to the light colored areas of the under shell. If the crab is bluish-white and clean looking, it is newly shed and skinny..