Help with dungies

[Greg Jensen]

Hi all
sorry for the cross-posting, but I'm trying to reach as many critter-savvy divers as possible. This is the time of year when female dungeness crab extrude their egg masses and bury themselves in sand or mud while they incubate their brood. There are certain areas (e.g., Mukilteo, right where they are putting in the new ferry dock) where they form large aggregations, though they are easy to miss because they are so well buried. We know very little about this behavior-including how prevalent it is, what habitat characteristics influence their choice of location, and how important these 'hot spots' are to larval production relative to areas where they are not aggregated.
So, I'm asking for your help in identifying areas where you see (or have seen in the past) ovigerous dungeness crabs. Either post to this thread or pm me with your observations, including location, depth, habitat (sand, mud, eelgrass), and whether there were lots or just a few.
Ovigerous females are very inconspicuous, usually with just their eyes and antennae showing, and they don't jump up and run off like males do. There's no need to dig them all up- just check one out and leave the rest buried.
I'm also interested in hearing about any sightings of dungeness crabs (females or not) in the southernmost parts of Puget Sound. It appears that the furthest south that one can consistently find them is around the Nisqually area, yet there is a lot of seemingly suitable habitat near Olympia.

[John Rawlings]

Hi, Greg!

Although I have not dived there at all this year, in the past I have seen such aggregations of females with eggs in the sand and mud surrounding the sunken barges outside the marina on Gedney Island, directly across from Everett. The depths of the barges ranges from 30 FSW down to 120 FSW. Numbers have ranged from dozens to hundreds, and appear to be seasonal.

As you mentioned, the biggest such location I have seen over the years has always been in the flats immediately north of the Air Force Pier at Mukilteo....although God knows what will happen to that spot during all the construction scheduled to take place.

- John

[Sounder]

I know it's about as far away from the South end of the Sound, but Grateful Diver and I saw MANY of large female dungies off Lopez Island - I'd bet you'd find plenty of them buried there. PM me if this will help and I'll give you the details.

[nwscubamom]

Glad I checked in tonight - we're diving Sunnyside (Steilacoom) in South Sound tomorrow. Will keep my eyes peeled for eyeballs in the sand.

- Janna

[nwscubamom]

Well, I looked. Couldn't find a single Dungie. Found a few Red Rocks and more than a few Graceful Cancer crabs, but that's it.

Sorry!

I specifically looked for slight depressions in the sand with eyeballs sticking out. It's a really sandy habitat there. No luck.

- Janna