Crab royalty one day, dinner the next

 
Two fine specimens from Jiangxi Province are yesterday named the king (left) and queen at the first national hairy crab contest, with about 400 crustaceans and their breeders from all over the country vying for the crowns. 

LONG live the king and queen ... the very fat and juicy king and queen.

Well, in this case longevity is not on the cards. The newly crowned monarchs, both from Jiangxi Province, are crustaceans and destined for the dinner table.

Nearly 400 hairy crabs from all over the country were presented in Shanghai by their breeders yesterday in a bid for the first Fengshou Cup, a national hairy crab contest.

Sponsored by the Shanghai Fisheries University, the contest was open to male crabs with a minimum weight of 400 grams and females of more than 300 grams.

A male weighing 524.8 grams won the title of "Hairy Crab King of the Year" after passing strict, and high-tech, examination and evaluation by an expert panel.

"Crab Queen of the Year" was won by a specimen tipping the scales at 393 grams.

Contest organizers said breeders can sell the king and queen to aquatic product dealers or take them home.

Hairy crab is one of the most popular dishes for Chinese, especially in autumn and winter, but most available in the market weigh only 150 grams to 200 grams.

The contest drew 18 crab breeders from Shanghai, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. Each company was required to send 20 crabs - 10 male and 10 female - for competition.

Experts evaluated the crabs by weight, size, color and physical characteristics on the back.

All scores compiled by the experts were fed into a computer equipped with professional crab-quality evaluation software developed by the university.

The software program, the only one of its kind in the country, came up with the king and queen.

Li Yingsen, a professor with the university's school of life sciences, said that crabs of such a large size occur only once in 10,000 - or even higher.

The king and queen will be priced at about 5,000 yuan (US$671) each, according to experts.