Cancer pagurus
See also: Sleeper
The crab sleeper or sleeper ( Cancer pagurus ) is a large elliptic Crabe of form. It is also called the crab-of-moon or fist-close , but is more known gastronomes under the name of oil cake .
Its Pince S is robust, its Péréiopode S are duveteux. The oil cake is of color chamois, with the ends of the grips and the dactyls of the legs coloured in black. The lower part of the carapace is beige. Cancer pagurus is called sleeper because, when it is turned over, this crab takes a typical attitude, it folds up its legs and its grips on the lower part of its carapace, and does not move more as if it slept.
Biology
The adult oil cakes sleepers catch preys of very different species, they are the predatory pitiless ones which nourishes primarily Mollusque S. These crabs very often dig large holes in the Sédiment S, to find their food.
The females reach their maturity around 17 centimetres and can go up to 20 centimetres, while the smaller males reach only approximately 15 centimetres. The abrasion often takes place in winter. For this period, the male is held on the female, until it moults. After the moult, it becomes receptive, thus the copulation becomes reliable, and the assured descent.
With the laying, the female digs a well in the sediment which it adapts according to the number of eggs. It then increases eggs fertilized during seven to eight month in spring or in summer. The female can carry up to 20 million eggs. After the birth, the larvae are plankton until the 30e day. The oil cakes sleepers can live 20 years. It is the species commercially most important in Europe. The oil cake is fished at sea using bow nets started using fish in decomposition.
This species is not threatened for the moment, although certain fishermen affirm that the high-sea fishing of the French, English and Irish coasts, is less important than in the past.
Food value
It is a very required crab for its gustatory qualities.The crabs can be sold alive, frozen, boiled or out of box. They have a delicate flesh.
The crabs are an excellent source of vitamin B12 and Zinc and contain enormously Vitamine E.
Principal components in g/100g: