I don't know when the king crab was introduced to China, and its huge size and tender and juicy meat made the Chinese people call it real! However, due to the reason of "imported products", king crab is expensive in China, showing the extreme phenomenon of "ordinary people see several times, high-end restaurants from time to time".
But unexpectedly, the king crab, which is known as a "high-end product", has been planted in its hometown, and the number has flooded to the point of causing an ecological crisis.
King crab: the king of crabs
It is said that the king crab is the king of crabs, but people are not real crabs at all, but stone crabs. They come from as far away as Alaska and prefer to live in the cold deep sea. It can survive to a depth of up to 850 meters and has temperatures between 2 and 5 degrees, but the minimum temperature cannot fall below 1.4 degrees Celsius.
The red and orange color of the king crab is particularly conspicuous, and the older the king crab is, the darker the color of the body surface becomes. Don't look at the king crab's huge size and fierce appearance, but its movement is very agile, and it will not actively attack other races, let alone attack humans for no reason.
When it encounters an unknown attack, it crawls away at lightning speed. From this point of view, the king crab seems to have a little cuteness.
There are many types of king crabs, and a total of 113 species have been found so far, among which king crabs such as Chilean king crab, Norwegian giant crab, and crimson quasi-stone crab are popular.
King crabs are not only huge, but their reproductive ability is jaw-dropping. A female crab can lay about 10,000 small crabs a year. During the king crab breeding season, people can always find small crabs densely packed on the shoals. Moreover, king crabs are extremely long-lived creatures, and without natural enemies and human infestation, they can live to 30 years old without worry-free and become "king crabs".
Attack on King Crab swept across Europe
King crab populations are a "fighting people" in the biological world, from the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia to the Alaska Sea in the United States. But fishermen in these countries don't seem to be treating king crabs as much as they do Chinese. Although king crabs usually live in the deep sea, there are always some "recalcitrant elements" who climb ashore from the team and invade the normal life of human beings.
Because these guys are so good at giving birth, they can hatch 16,000 to 80,000 eggs alone. The breeding trend of "offspring and grandchildren" has seized the living space and resources of other organisms in the same sea. So far, humans still have no good way to control the king crab epidemic. Only the more primitive "trapping" method can be used to artificially reduce the number of king crabs.
It is understood that in the context of the flooding of king crabs, the average annual output of king crabs that can be "trapped" is 10,000 tons. That's a staggering number.
Compared to king crab, Europeans seem to prefer steak, raw pork and other foods. The small size of the European domestic market cannot consume king crabs measured in tens of thousands of tons, not to mention the "extreme breeding rate" of king crabs has caused the precarious ecological environment of the sea area.
The terrifying ecological killer invades Antarctica
King crabs live exclusively in cold waters with strong winds and waves, and due to the presence of cold currents, they bring rich nutrients from the seabed to the upper part of the sea and feed many fish and shrimp. When these fish and shrimp are eaten white and fat, the top hunter king crab appears, and they all have been included in the stomach.
Originally, this was a very normal food chain in the biological world, but the breeding speed and survival ability of king crabs are too amazing, and the number has reached the level of flooding. The extra 10,000-ton king crab "out of thin air" has eaten all three generations of small fish and shrimp.
That's not enough, hungry king crabs are desperate to climb the main continental shelf in search of new food sources for their huge populations. It is understood that in 2011, scientists discovered that the mudbed basin of the continental shelf off the coast of Antarctica contained a large population of king crabs, the number of which was conservatively estimated at 1 million.
Antarctica is cold all year round and the living environment is harsh, which humans cannot relate to. If the king crab successfully "lands" in Antarctica, under the dual favorable conditions of lack of natural enemies and high-speed reproduction rate, the king crab is very likely to become the first species to occupy Antarctica.
From a distance, the king crab looks like a huge spider, always with huge and sharp claws, and extremely powerful attacks. It is worth mentioning that king crabs are extremely aggressive and meat-loving, and they will hardly let go if they touch their prey.
If the king crab, a large carnivore, does come ashore, it will bring fatal havoc to animals such as sea serpent tail, sea lily, and sea cucumber, and then cause ecological damage that is difficult to lose.
King crab is big, so the price is high?
It is understood that the market price of king crab per catty in 2023 is in the range of 300 yuan to 500 yuan, while the average price of fresh pork per catty is only 15 yuan.
So why is the price of king crab so high? Is it because of its large size and a lot of meat, so the price is high? The answer is no. The reason is that king crab is an imported product and prefers to live in cold areas. The temperature of the mainland cannot cultivate king crabs, and the scarce is expensive. So the price of king crab is relatively high.
However, this is not the most essential reason, the king crab is equipped with bladed armor and extremely sensitive. Therefore, only well-trained old fishermen can catch king crabs relatively safely. The rest of the fishermen, who do not have extensive experience in fighting king crabs, will be more or less harmed. Therefore, the cost of manual capture of king crab alone is extremely high.
In general, live king crab is more expensive than frozen king crab. Because live king crab is very easy to die due to temperature, environment and other reasons during transportation, king crab is generally imported from Chile in frozen form.
From the perspective of fishing costs, processing costs, freight, taxes, packaging fees and other necessary industrialization links, the huge cost of king crab has been fixed, and the price of selling can only be higher.
In addition, after the king crab was introduced to the mainland, it received a good market response, and many people liked it. Cost and market demand have led to the hundreds of yuan a pound of king crab we see today. It is worth mentioning that different specifications of restaurants, different king crab production methods will also produce different high prices.
The most essential reason why king crabs are flooded abroad but are scarce in the mainland is the difference in climate and living and breeding environment.
The minimum temperature that king crabs can accept is 1.4 degrees Celsius, which is simply not achievable in the natural environment of the mainland. Moreover, from the perspective of consumers, king crab is a rare and delicious seafood, and under the recognition and publicity of the market, the price of king crab in China is naturally high.