Jaiba vs. Cangrejo

[pollogringo]

Malko's recent mention of jaiba inspired this thread.

I had always understood la jaiba to be the Dominican term for a crustacean found in rivers and streams(de agua dulce). While los cangrejos(crabs) are their counterparts from the sea. I was recently told by a family member from Moca that I have it backwards.

Your thoughts, please.

 

[yopote]

family members right

your family members have it right but is not dominican term I think is caribbean

Malko's recent mention of jaiba inspired this thread.

I had always understood la jaiba to be the Dominican term for a crustacean found in rivers and streams(de agua dulce). While los cangrejos(crabs) are their counterparts from the sea. I was recently told by a family member from Moca that I have it backwards.

Your thoughts, please.

 

[chrisrose97]

your family members have it right but is not dominican term I think is caribbean

Jaiba is a river crab
Cangrejo is a sea crab

Only in Chile a jaiba is referred to a sea crab, and they spell it jaiva.

[video=youtube;7Yhn9BXt6LI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yhn9BXt6LI[/video]

 

[jabejuventus]

I have jaibas in a stream on my land. I was told that they were female crabs, but I was always dubious. Your description makes all the sense. Is there a value or benefit to having jaibas in the environment?

 

[malko]

There s kind of a contradiction in the posts. I thought like u jaiba, river, cangrejo, sea..... anyway like 6 years ago there was Loads of them in the rivers around my place. Now ure lucky if u find any at all. The locals blame the haitiens(but they also get blamed for aids, global warming, peso devaluation and holes in the road so I m kind of sceptic), I just wonder if too many people go hunting for them now. The big land owner has stopped people selling them on the side of the road, but lets u take them for personnal consumption.

 

[NotLurking]

It's jaiba from the river and crabs from the sea. Don't let anyone tell you differently. Jaibas are sweet and succulent crab meat is a tab bit tougher and not as sweet. Again crab lives in salty waters while jaibas do not.

NotLurking

 

[bronzeallspice]

PG you are correct.Jaibas are freshwater crabs and cangrejos are saltwater crabs.

 

[pollogringo]

Jaiba is a river crab
Cangrejo is a sea crab

Only in Chile a jaiba is referred to a sea crab, and they spell it jaiva.

That's what my ex-wife's family from Bayaguana always said.

 

[pollogringo]

It's jaiba from the river and crabs from the sea. Don't let anyone tell you differently. Jaibas are sweet and succulent crab meat is a tab bit tougher and not as sweet. Again crab lives in salty waters while jaibas do not.

NotLurking

Yep. They insist jaiba is the preferred meat.

 

[santa110xyz]

hihihiiiii also ugly street workers (prostitutes) are called jaibas here..... LOL

 

[Norma Rosa]

It's jaiba from the river and crabs from the sea. Don't let anyone tell you differently. Jaibas are sweet and succulent crab meat is a tab bit tougher and not as sweet. Again crab lives in salty waters while jaibas do not.

NotLurking

Not all crabs are from the sea. There are river crabs, as well as crabs that live in burrows (cangrejos de cueva) close to a river. I grew up in the province of San Pedro de Macor?s where you can find cangrejos de cueva throughout most of the year. A good time to go hunting for them is when it is thundering -they come out of their caves in no time at all. Since they live underground and feed on dead matter, tree bark, leaves, and so on, the taste of their meat is different to that of the sea crab. I find it more tasty, but that's probably because I grew up with them. At home we used to keep them in a big iron tank where they were fed corn, banana peel, leaves, etc. Btw, I used to know how to catch a crab; . . . I have lost the skill.

 

[MerengueDutchie]

Jaiba and cangrejo are the same black river crabs.

Jaiba are females of the species
Cangrejo are the males of the species

Jaiba are preferred because of the taste.

 

[Norma Rosa]

Jaibas and crabs are both crabs. They differ physiologically:A jaiba has its last pair of legs in the shape of paddles, reason for which they are also called swimming crabs -that is not the case on a crab. That I know of, jaibas are found in rivers.

 

[Norma Rosa]

Jaiba and cangrejo are the same black river crabs.

Jaiba are females of the species
Cangrejo are the males of the species

Jaiba are preferred because of the taste.

I don't think so. Please, look into it.

 

[MerengueDutchie]

I don't think so. Please, look into it.

Before I posted, I've checked with my Dominican family who are avid consumers and sometime hunters of said species of crab (i've been one hunting trips too).. this in and around Espilliat, Peurto Plata and Santiago..

They insist on their definition of jaiba..

Maybe it's different in other parts of the DR?

 

[Bronxboy]

In PR, we have Jueyes and Cangrejo

The main difference between this and the cangrejo whose name you learned in your high school Spanish class are the two specially-shaped claws it has to help it swim.

From Seafood

 

[Bronxboy]

Jueyes:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Y_GMz3_fwmY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Cangrejo:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/A9oPUIoy27Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[pollogringo]

It's nearly impossible to convince a Dominican that a word doesn't mean what they think it means. LOL

Just fun stuff to debate while playing dominoes and drinking Dewar's.

 

[Norma Rosa]

Before I posted, I've checked with my Dominican family who are avid consumers and sometime hunters of said species of crab (i've been one hunting trips too).. this in and around Espilliat, Peurto Plata and Santiago..

They insist on their definition of jaiba..

Maybe it's different in other parts of the DR?

They have the right to insist on whatever they want. The true of the matter is that there are male and female jaibas. I just found this out: The legs of a male jaiba are of a gray-blue color; the legs of the female are of a red-orange color. I also learned that jaibas can be found also in the sea, I thought they lived only in rivers. It is so rewarding to check out facts.

 

[suarezn]

Norma Rosa has it correct. Of course they're both a type of crab...but the difference is what she said.

The terms are sometimes used interchangeably as we've seen here. Jaibas are definitely disappearing from certain areas. When I was a kid we used to have tons of them in the creeks around where I grew up. Nowadays you'd be lucky to find one.

I did not know Jaibas can be found in salty water...learn something new every day.