Golden King Crab

The golden king crab is a large deep water crab found across the North Pacific, including the Bering Sea and the waters around the Aleutian Islands. It lives at greater depths than its red king crab relative, typically several hundred meters down on soft or rocky bottoms in cold water. Its shell carries a golden orange tint, which gives the species its common name and distinguishes it from the more reddish red king crab. It grows more slowly and lives longer than the red king crab, reaching legal harvest size only after many years. A smaller, more specialized commercial fishery targets the species in Alaskan waters, using pots set at depths beyond where most other king crab fisheries operate. Like other king crabs, it is not a true crab but a member of the hermit crab lineage, recognizable by its asymmetrical abdomen tucked beneath the body.