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The Sand Crab attains a shell width of 200 mm but does not approach the weight of the more heavily-bodied Mud Crab; as against this, popular opinion generally holds this to be a more delicately-flavoured Crab than the latter. In life, the body and legs are mottled in blue, purple, and white. The female has a brownish cast; her claws are long and slender, but not as much so as in the males. Cooking calls for gently simmering the Crabs for 8 minutes in salty water (about 100 grams of salt to the litre, depending on taste).
Anglers make good hauls of Sand Crabs during the mid-summer months, using baited hoop-nets or "crab-dillies" from jetties and anchored dinghies.
The taking of female sand crabs is prohibited in Queensland.
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