Crab stick red food coloring is applied to the outside. Crab stick Crab sticks, krab sticks, imitation crab meat or seafood sticks are a type of seafood made of starch and finely pulverized white fish (surimi) that has been shaped and cured to resemble the leg meat of snow crab or Japanese spider crab. It is a non-vegetarian product that uses fish meat to imitate shellfish meat. of Japan first produced and patented imitation crab meat in 1974, as Kanikama. This was a flake type. In 1975, Osaki Suisan Co., Ltd., of Japan first produced and patented imitation crab sticks. In 1977,
Red king crab Red king crab The red king crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus, also called Kamchatka crab or Alaskan king crab, is a species of king crab native to the Bering Sea. It grows to a leg span of , and is heavily targeted by fisheries. The red king crab is the largest species of king crab. Red king crabs can reach a carapace width of up to , a leg span of , and a weight of . Males grow larger than females. Today red king crabs infrequently surpass in carapace width and the average male landed in the Bering Sea weighs .