Crab meat 800 years ago. Surimi is commonly used in Japan to make a type of fish ball or cake called kamaboko. In 1975, a method for processing imitation crabmeat from surimi was invented in Japan, and in 1983, American companies started production. Declawing of crabs is the process whereby one or both claws of a live crab are manually pulled off and the animal is then returned to the water. It occurs in several fisheries worldwide, such as in the Florida stone crab ("Menippe mercenaria") fishery, the north-east Atlantic deep-water red crab ("Chaceon affinis") fishery and in southern Iberia, where the
Crab twisting and pulling off one or both claws and returning the live crab to the water in the belief the crab will survive and regenerate the claws, thereby making it a sustainable industry. Crabs are prepared and eaten as a dish in many different ways all over the world. Some species are eaten whole, including the shell, such as soft-shell crab; with other species, just the claws or legs are eaten. The latter is particularly common for larger crabs, such as the snow crab. In many cultures the roe of the female crab is also eaten, which usually appears orange