I have earned scholar status on arthropods

Last week I went to Crab College, in conjunction with the Crab Festival taking place through February at the Market Street restaurants and fish markets.

I even received a diploma, a Certificate of Crabulation, that states that I'm now a scholar in "Arthropoda/Crustacea/Malacostraca/Decapoda/Pleocyemata/Brachyrua." It sounds like something the Wizard of Oz would bestow; but hey, I really did learn something.

Gastronomy chef Ty Frederickson said Alaska king crab is the top-selling item at the company's Market Street restaurants, fish markets and Oyster Bars, with Alaska halibut the second favorite. The company goes through 45,000 pounds of king crab a year, 120,000 pounds of halibut and 30,000 pounds of Dungeness crab.

"We serve more pounds of halibut but spend more money on king crab," he said. "Our cost for the crab is three times that of halibut."

There's a reason it's so expensive. Crab fishing is no leisurely pastime, as those who have watched the Discovery Channel's documentary, "Deadliest Catch" can attest.

"When you go out on the ocean in the middle of winter in small boats, there's a element of risk involved," pointed out Nick Furman, the executive director of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission.

Fishermen are battered by freezing rain and icy waves as they head out into the northern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea to find schools of crabs hovering on the ocean floor. The crews lower steel cages that are baited with fish. The cages' holes are configured so the crabs can crawl in but can't get out.

With the concern over wild-versus-farmed seafood it's good to know that the crabs are caught in the wild with an eye to sustainability.

Alaska is home to king crab and snow crab. To ensure there will be more in the future, only male king crabs measuring 6½ inches from spine to spine are kept; the females and smaller ones are thrown back.

Dungeness crab, named after a small fishing village on the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Washington state, are found along the West Coast from central California to the Gulf of Alaska. A Dungeness crab is smaller, more compact and very meaty.

"Crabs are known to travel 150 to 200 miles," said Furman. "Imagine doing that with eight legs, walking sideways."

Mature male Dungeness crabs measuring at least 6¼ inches across the shell are kept; females and smaller crabs are thrown back.

The crabs are kept alive in a tank of seawater on the ship until they can be delivered to processing facilities.

About 99 percent of them are cleaned, cooked and chilled or frozen at the processing facilities, for quality control and food safety purposes.

So, be suspicious if you see a term such as "fresh king crab" on a menu, unless you're dining on the Alaskan shore.

E-mail: vphillips@desnews.com