A rare all-white Dungeness crab caught off the Oregon coast was spared the dinner plate and donated to the Seaside Aquarium, where staff have fittingly named him … Sour Cream.
The crab isn’t actually albino: He has black eyes. Rather, Sour Cream has a rare genetic condition called leucism, which causes a partial loss of pigment.
Tiffany Boothe, assistant manager at the Seaside Aquarium, said Sour Cream appeared in a local commercial fishing boat’s crab pot about a month ago.
“They kept him separate because it was such a unique crab, and they hadn’t really seen one before,” Boothe said. “When they got in, they just gave us a call to see if we’d be interested in him. They thought he was too cool for dinner.”
According to Oregon Fish and Wildlife, white Dungeness crabs seem to appear once in every 2 million to 3 million crabs. The agency told the North Coast Journal in 2021 that it receives two or three reports each year of crabs with leucism, out of an annual Dungeness harvest of about 8 million crabs.
“There could be more of them out there, they’re just not getting reported,” Boothe said. “That’s something we’ll probably find out in the next few years as these guys become a little bit more popular through social media.”
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Boothe said Dungeness crabs can live about 10 years, and Sour Cream is estimated to be about 4 or 5 years old. The crab is missing both his pinchers, which makes finding food and defending himself difficult. It’s possible he will regrow smaller pinchers if he molts, but for now Sour Cream has a tank to himself so no other crabs can pick on him.
Sour Cream isn’t the aquarium’s first white Dungeness crab, but it is the first since Boothe joined the staff 21 years ago.
“I’ve seen comments on some of the (social media) posts that other people have eaten them, and they taste just the same and that when you boil them, their shell actually turns bright red,” Boothe said. “We’re not going to try that.”
Instead, Sour Cream will live out the rest of his days at the Seaside Aquarium, where staff hand-feed him fish because of his lack of pinchers.
“He is a cool crab,” Boothe said. “If you haven’t seen one, I would suggest coming in and taking a look.”
The Seaside Aquarium, 200 N. Prom in Seaside, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily (with longer hours in summer months.)
-- Samantha Swindler, sswindler@oregonian.com, @editorswindler