What are those doing in there?

[DerekW]

Lunching at the side of the grand square in the middle of Brussels recently, I ordered a pot of mussels, pretty much Moule Mariniere. As I guzzled my way through them I came across one which had little white strands poking out from inside the 'seam' of the mussel's flesh. Thinking 'infestation' I gently tugged at one of the little white thread like things and retrieved a baby crab, entire. The body might have been 3/16" of an inch across.

Placing the mussel aside I ate on, only to encounter another, and another. Building a 'Sydney Opera House' of mussel shells, I arrayed the ten or so little crabs as a chorus line. Needless to say after a few crabs had appeared I started eating the mussels in which they had been concealed, to no ill effect - the mussels all tasted really fresh. In a spirit of enquiry I tried eating a couple of the crabs, but as far as I could tell they were all shell.

When our waiter happened by I showed him my little diorama and he appeared a little nonplussed. When pressed he said that the crabs were a not uncommon occurence, although they weren't often found in any quantity.

How about it? I've never before had mussels arrive with little crabs inside them. I'll emphasise; the crabs were for the most part found inside the fleshy envelope of the mussels, not just inside the shell.

Are the mussels trapping and digesting baby crabs? Are the crabs attacking the mussels? Enquiring minds, and all that....

[Daniel Rogov]

Indeed not an uncommon phenomenon. See http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxa...bias/fabias.htm

[Kent Wang]

That's some fine food-playing, sir. I'm nominating you for a Pritzker Prize.