Types of Crab: NOAA Crab Species and 6 USDA Crab Entries

Types of crab covered by NOAA species pages include blue crab, red king crab, Alaska snow crab and Jonah crab, and USDA FoodData Central lists cooked values for blue, Alaska king, Dungeness and queen crab. This guide describes those four crab species in NOAA’s words, ranks six USDA SR Legacy crab entries by protein per 3 ounces with the FDA percent Daily Value, and adds FDA’s allergen and mercury facts. For shrimp, see our sibling guide to types of shrimp.

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Types of crab described by NOAA

NOAA species pages give a scientific name, the other names people use and a range or U.S. source for each species. The table lists three crab species from those pages, as NOAA gives them; the other names column shows a few of the names NOAA lists for each.

NOAA describes the blue crab’s shell, the carapace, as blue to olive green and up to 9 inches across, with bright blue claws; mature females also have red tips on their claws. NOAA says blue crabs have three pairs of walking legs and rear swimming legs that look like paddles, and gives a native range along the Atlantic Coast of the Americas from Nova Scotia to Argentina. NOAA’s list of other names follows the molt: hard-shells are not molting, peelers are about to molt, busters have started to molt and soft-shells have just molted and are not yet hard.

NOAA calls red king crabs the largest of the commercially harvested crabs. They range in color from brownish to bluish red, are covered in sharp spines, and have three pairs of walking legs and one pair of claws of different shapes, according to NOAA, which says they can grow up to 24 pounds with a leg span of 5 feet. NOAA describes the meat as having a distinctive rich, sweet flavor and delicate texture, white with pink accents, and says red king crab is mainly harvested in Bristol Bay. NOAA lists Alaska king crab as another name for the species, the same name USDA uses for its king crab entries.

NOAA says Alaska snow crabs have a hard rounded shell, four pairs of walking legs and one pair of claws, are brownish on top and lighter underneath, and have green or greenish blue eyes. Males can reach 6 inches in shell width while females seldom grow larger than 3 inches, according to NOAA, and the species lives off Alaska in the Bering, Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. NOAA describes the taste as sweet and the texture as delicate and flaky, says the snow-white meat gives the snow crab its name, and reports no commercial landings of Alaska snow crab in 2024 because the commercial fishery was closed.

NOAA places the Jonah crab in the family Cancridae and lists white-legger, peekytoe crab and rock crab among its other names. NOAA describes Jonah crabs as having a round, reddish-brown shell with rough-edged teeth and small yellow spots, and large claws with dark brown or black tips. NOAA says Jonah crabs range in the Northwest Atlantic from Canada to Florida, that the commercial fishery in the United States spans Maine through Virginia, and that the taste is sweet and the texture flaky, with cooked meat that is white with brownish-red highlights. USDA SR Legacy also has cooked entries for Dungeness and queen crab; this guide gives only their USDA values, because no NOAA species page for either name was used here.

Crab ranked by protein in USDA data

The table lists USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy crab entries at 3 ounces (85 grams), ranked by protein: four entries cooked with moist heat, canned blue crab, and the USDA entry for imitation crab made from surimi. The percent Daily Value (%DV) uses the FDA Daily Values of 78 grams for total fat, 2,300 milligrams for sodium, 11 milligrams for zinc and 2.4 micrograms for B12; protein has no %DV here because the FDA labeling rule bases a protein %DV on an amount corrected for protein quality.

In USDA data, cooked queen crab lists about 20.2 grams of protein per 3 ounces, Dungeness crab 19.0 grams, Alaska king crab 16.4 grams and blue crab 15.2 grams. The USDA imitation entry, made from surimi, lists 6.5 grams, the least in the table. USDA lists 0.4 to 1.3 grams of total fat per 3 ounces for every crab entry here. Our crab guide covers a single crab entry in more detail, and lean protein foods and high protein foods rank other foods.

Sodium separates the crab entries most clearly. USDA lists about 911 milligrams per 3 ounces for cooked Alaska king crab, 40% of the FDA Daily Value, and 587 milligrams for queen crab, against 321 milligrams for Dungeness crab and 336 milligrams for cooked blue crab. Canned blue crab lists 479 milligrams in USDA data, while USDA gives it the same protein, zinc and B12 figures as the cooked blue crab entry. The Nutrition Facts label on a package is the figure for that product; see also low sodium foods.

USDA lists cooked Alaska king crab at about 6.5 milligrams of zinc per 3 ounces, 59% of the FDA Daily Value, and Dungeness crab at 4.6 milligrams. In USDA data, Alaska king crab lists 9.8 micrograms of B12 per 3 ounces, 407% of the FDA Daily Value, and queen and Dungeness crab 8.8 micrograms each, against 2.8 micrograms for blue crab. See also foods high in zinc and vitamin B12.

Crab as a major food allergen

FDA lists crustacean shellfish, “like crab, lobster, and shrimp,” among the nine major food allergens. FDA’s allergen guidance (Edition 5, January 2025, nonbinding) says crustacean shellfish “(such as crab, lobster, or shrimp)” and ingredients that contain protein derived from them are major food allergens, while molluscan shellfish such as oysters, clams, mussels or scallops are not. FDA says the law requires the species of crustacean shellfish to be declared, so an ingredient list or “Contains” statement cannot broadly declare crustacean shellfish. FDA’s labeling rules do not replace an allergist’s advice about a specific food.

Crab on the FDA and EPA mercury chart

FDA and EPA wrote their “Advice about Eating Fish” for people who might become or are pregnant or breastfeeding and for parents and caregivers feeding children, and a healthcare provider can answer questions about a specific situation. FDA says the chart “can help you choose which fish to eat, and how often to eat them, based on their mercury levels,” and notes that the advice refers to fish and shellfish together as fish. The FDA chart (advice revised October 2021) lists crab in its lowest-mercury category, along with shrimp, lobster, crawfish, clams, oysters and scallops. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, from USDA and HHS, say “mercury, in the form of methylmercury, is found in seafood in varying levels.”

Other crab entries and crab species

USDA SR Legacy also lists uncooked entries for blue, Alaska king, Dungeness and queen crab and a home-recipe crab cake entry; they are not in the table because it compares the cooked and canned forms. USDA names the imitation entry as made from surimi, and its figures differ widely from the four cooked crab entries. Of the four NOAA crab species, NOAA lists the blue crab in the family Portunidae, the red king crab in Lithodidae, the Alaska snow crab in Oregoniidae and the Jonah crab in Cancridae.

For other crustaceans, see our guides to lobster and crawfish. Our guide to types of shellfish covers crustaceans and mollusks together, and types of fish covers finfish.

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Last reviewed October 2026.

Related guides: Types of Shrimp: 5 NOAA Shrimp Species and USDA Values, Crab Nutrition: Calories, Protein and Imitation Crab Facts, Types of Shellfish: 16 Kinds With USDA Values and FDA Facts, Types of Shrimp: 5 NOAA Shrimp Species and USDA Values.