Tanner Crab
Chionoecetes bairdi
Sweet, delicate, smaller than king crab — but with a cleaner flavor. The crab Alaskans actually eat at home. Tanner is the species you want when you want crab to taste like crab, not like a buttered prop on a steakhouse plate.
Pot-caught around Kodiak in a short January-through-March winter season. The fishery is small, the pots are big, and the boats run hard in cold weather. The reward is a crab that holds its texture through cooking and reheating better than any king or snow crab on a shelf.
Crack, dip in clarified butter, eat. That's the recipe.
Where tanner crab lives
Biological range is not the same thing as catch context. This section separates public agency range information from the Alaska catching grounds connected to this guide.
Cold Alaska shelf habitat with muddy and sandy bottom areas.
North Pacific and Bering Sea crab grounds, including Gulf of Alaska waters around Kodiak.
Centers on Kodiak-area winter Tanner crab fisheries.
Catching grounds
The Alaska waters connected to this guide entry. Click through for the full story of each catching ground.
