Emerald Crab

[Jason Magliaro]

my blood shrimp molted last night and i caught my emerald crab eating the molted shell!!

 

[pegasus]

Waste not... want not. At least the shrimp wasn't still in it! LOL! The molt is a good source of calcium, which can help the emerald (form a new shell) when its' time to molt comes around.

 

[bang guy]

I'm sure the chitin in shrimp shells is tasty, I know I prefer to cook my shrimp in the shell for the flavor, but there really isn't a significant amount of calcium in them. I'm not sure where that myth started.

 

[geridoc]

I'm sure the chitin in shrimp shells is tasty, I know I prefer to cook my shrimp in the shell for the flavor, but there really isn't a significant amount of calcium in them. I'm not sure where that myth started.

I think it depends on what you call "significant". Chitin fibers are stabilized by calcium salts, so there is calcium present at higher concentration than sea water.

 

[bang guy]

Right, it's measured in parts per million for shrimp. That's what I mean by not significant It's not like chewing on the bones of a vertebrate. From a dietary perspective shrimp chitin is not a significant source of Calcium. If you get into Lobsters or some of the harder shelled crabs then sure, there's significant Calcium, if you can chew through them, but not in shrimp.