Hi Jeff, thanks for your report! From the photos you provided, it appears that the crabs that you identified as Dungeness crabs are actually Red Rock crabs. It is a common mistake because both crabs have a similar shaped carapaces but the key feature to help differentiate between those two species is the shape of the marginal teeth. Red Rock crabs have large, rounded, scalloped marginal teeth (I think of it as like a pie crust!) and Dungeness have sharper marginal teeth. Another way to identify Red Rock crabs is by their protruding rostrum between their eyes that is different from Dungeness. I have updated your report to reflect the species update. Happy molt searching!
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Hi Jeff, thanks for your report! From the photos you provided, it appears that the crabs that you identified as Dungeness crabs are actually Red Rock crabs. It is a common mistake because both crabs have a similar shaped carapaces but the key feature to help differentiate between those two species is the shape of the marginal teeth. Red Rock crabs have large, rounded, scalloped marginal teeth (I think of it as like a pie crust!) and Dungeness have sharper marginal teeth. Another way to identify Red Rock crabs is by their protruding rostrum between their eyes that is different from Dungeness. I have updated your report to reflect the species update. Happy molt searching!