An Expensive Crab

About a week ago, while shopping, I leaned over a seafood display at a local grocery thinking I might purchase some king crab.  At nearly $35.00 per pound, the package I found attractive would have cost me about $50.00.

I whistled aloud and then pushed away from the seafood.  I bought some mangoes instead.

Turns out $35.00 per pound is pretty cheap.

On November 7, a single freshly caught snow crab fetched $46.000.00 at a Japanese fish market auction.  The crab weighed 2.7 pounds and measured 5.7 inches across the shell.

The record sale came at the opening of the season at Tottori port.

The crab—nicknamed “five shining star” for its size and shape—was purchased by Tetsuji Hamashita, president of a Japanese fishery wholesaler.  The crab will simply be shipped to a restaurant in the Ginza shopping district of Tokyo, along with all the other nameless crabs.

“I know it’s extreme. But it’s the custom,” noted Hamashita. "We came to this year's first auction hoping that we would bid the world's highest price again.  I believe it is a good crab filled with meat."    

Purchasing the first and best crab caught on the first day of crab fishing season is considered a status symbol.

—Mitchell Hegman

Sources: UPI, CNBC

Photo: Geddy Images