- I'm Coyote Peterson,
and I'm about to enter the pinch zone
with the Dungeness crab.
Ready?
One.
Two.
Here we go.
Three.
(screaming)
(epic orchestral music)
As the sun breaks through the clouds
and shines down upon my face,
there are two things on my mind.
The first, is that Alaska's absolutely breathtaking.
The second,
is that in just a couple minutes,
I will be pinched by a giant Dungeness crab.
Wait, what?
Yup, you heard me right, pinched,
by a giant crab.
Today we're in Haines, Alaska,
and our first stop is the dock.
So if you wanna get pinched by a Dungeness crab,
you gotta have the crab first.
And I can't dive down
to the bottom of the ocean to catch one,
so today we're heading to the harbor so I can buy one.
Dungeness crabs live in deep water,
and are usually caught using crab pots.
So for us to make this episode work,
we actually have to buy a crab.
- Got one.
- There ya go.
That looks like it'll do the trick right there.
That's a pretty big set of pinchers.
I think we all know what's gonna happen next.
Oh boy.
The good news for the crab,
who I have endearingly named Roscoe,
is that after I am pinched,
he is going to be released back into the wild.
Alright, well, I've got my crab.
Now we're just gonna take it to a good spot
that we can film me getting pinched.
You know, the entire time I was hoping
that this fisherman would never come back with these crabs.
Now we have one,
and my pointer finger is gonna feel the
power of that claw pinch.
I'm obviously pretty nervous right now
it's gonna break my finger.
They have these huge, teeth looking nodules on their claws.
I didn't know they had those until I saw 'em.
Kinda having second thoughts about this.
Dwelling primarily in eelgrass beds,
the Dungeness crab gets its name
from the town of Dungeness, Washington.
It's one of the largest crab species in this region,
and it's armed with a set of powerful claws
that would even make a lobster jealous.
I know what you were thinking,
"Coyote, why are you going to do this?"
And the answer is simple,
to find out just how powerful these crabs really are.
Can they break a human finger?
We're about to find out.
- [Voiceover] Alright, Coyote,
so does the crab seem bigger in person?
Or is this as big as you thought it would be?
- Yeah, actually I've never really seen
a full grown Dungeness crab.
I did picture something a bit smaller in my head.
He's down there in the water right now,
we just have water flowing through his gills.
We're actually allowing him to power up,
if I dare say, power up,
to make this pinch a little more extreme.
Grumpy ol' Roscoe, getting ready
to do a number on my pointer finger.
Oh boy, this is gonna be bad.
The pinch of any crab species
has the potential to be very painful.
And if the crab, like this one,
is big enough
there is a chance it could actually break a finger.
This is it.
This is for science,
here we go.
Bringing it up.
Oh boy.
He looks grumpy.
In the past I've been pinched by
several species of crab.
Remember the purple shore crab?
That one hurt.
You look at this crab
and you're probably thinking to yourself
"Coyote, that one's like 10 times the size."
Yeah, it is.
And take a look at those claws.
They're armed with little, serrated teeth.
Now what I'm gonna do today
is put my pointer finger into one of those claws
to see just how powerful that pinch really is.
I have a feeling that this
is going to hurt.
As long as it doesn't break my finger,
I'm going to let this crab pinch me for 60 seconds.
Never attempt to replicate
what you are about to witness.
I'm Coyote Peterson,
and I'm about to enter the pinch zone
with the Dungeness crab.
Ready? - [Voiceover] Let's do it.
- One.
Two.
Here we go.
Three.
(agonized screaming)
Wow, that's pretty bad!
Can you see that?
He's got my whole finger locked in there.
It's like, right on the joint.
Oh my gosh,
those teeth are definitely just digging into my finger.
(screaming)
Oh my gosh!
Oh my gosh, that hurts so much more
than I thought it was going to.
(grunting)
These crabs
actually use their pinchers
for defense
and also to catch their food.
Hold on, absorb the pain.
I gotta try and get my finger out, man.
It's crushing my finger.
Hold on, let me put it down on the ground.
(heavy breathing)
(yelling)
Oh that hurt.
Man, look at all those dents.
(grunts)
It hurt.
That was like having your finger
into a set a vice grips.
Man!
That was worth it.
For science.
(pained yelling)
Holy cow.
I'm a
actually a little nervous that he may have...
Stress fractured the bone.
Look at my finger,
you see the crush marks?
It's actually the
the pinches of the,
the teeth that I think hurt the worst,
'cause I could feel those digging down into the bone.
(grunts)
Man!
Roscoe,
you little,
you little bugger.
Wow!
I can now say without a doubt
that the pinch of the Dungeness crab.
(groaning)
Oh, wow, that's pretty bad.
Is by far the worst I've ever experienced.
I can only imagine how bad the pinch is gonna be
from a Maine lobster.
I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave,
stay wild,
we'll see you on the next adventure.
Alright, Roscoe, let's get you back off into the ocean.
As I placed Roscoe into the murky ocean waters,
I am pretty sure that I saw a little smile on his face
just before he disappeared into the unknown.
Cool.
Well, there he goes.
Roscoe is back off into the ocean,
and I still have my finger.
Awesome.
As for my finger,
it was sore for a week,
but completely free of any real damage.
If you thought this crab pinch was wild,
make sure to go back and watch my encounter
with the most venomous reptile I have ever captured,
the yellow-bellied sea snake.
And don't forget,
subscribe to the Brave Wilderness channel
so you can join me and the crew
on this season of Beyond the Tide.