tanner crab

noun

: any of several spider crabs (genus Chionoecetes)
especially : snow crab

Examples of tanner crab in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
But market dynamics have drastically devalued this year’s tanner crab catch, experts said. Nathaniel Herz, Anchorage Daily News, 29 Jan. 2023 While this year’s Kodiak tanner crab quota is the biggest since 1986, last year’s was sharply less, at 1.1 million pounds. Nathaniel Herz, Anchorage Daily News, 29 Jan. 2023 Right now, the group is planning to send out vessels to participate in the very limited tanner crab fishery, which only has about 2 million pounds available this year, and in the Aleutian golden king crab fishery, McCarty said. Elizabeth Earl For Alaska Journal Of Commerce, Anchorage Daily News, 18 Oct. 2022 The collapse of two of three major crab stocks in Alaska — there’s a third, bairdi crab, also called tanner crab, which is doing fine, but is a much smaller industry — is more than a gastronomic inconvenience for the one-percenters. Laura Reiley, Washington Post, 21 Aug. 2022 The collapse of two of three major crab stocks in Alaska -- there’s a third, bairdi crab, also called tanner crab, which is doing fine, but is a much smaller industry -- is more than a gastronomic inconvenience for the one-percenters. Laura Reiley, Anchorage Daily News, 21 Aug. 2022 Test line fisheries at Cook Inlet might be shortened and tanner crab surveys at Prince William Sound could get the ax. Anchorage Daily News, 3 Sep. 2019

Word History

Etymology

probably from New Latin tanneri, specific epithet of Chionoecetes tanneri, from Zera L. Tanner †1906 American naval officer

First Known Use

1947, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of tanner crab was in 1947

Dictionary Entries Near tanner crab

Cite this Entry

“Tanner crab.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tanner%20crab. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!