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Pick a crab, pick a name, put the crabs on the track, sound the horn and then they are off! You got it, crab racing, that is hermit crabs not to be confused with land crabs or water crabs.
What
is a hermit crab? Hermit crabs are land living crabs. They have soft abdomens which require the protection of a shell.
They do not make their own shell, therefore as they grow they
must find larger shells to occupy. Their lives are spent
searching for and occupying shells of other animals. The hermit
crab in the picture is donning a whelk's shell.
I had the great fun of attending a crab race over on St. Croix a
short time back. I had heard of them but never had attended an
actual race, so with anticipation I climbed the steps at Stixx to
look for the action and to look as well for Tito and Sue, the
folks that host and produce the races. There were lots of
families, folks
eating pizza and drinking beer, lots of children standing in line
pulling on Mom’s hand and whispering the great winning crab name
they had come up with; smiling when they received Mom’s approval.
There were adults in the line too for this fun activity is
definitely not just for kids!! 
And so folks lined up in front of
Tito who sat with a bucket of hermit crabs in front of him. Each
eager contestant when arriving to the bucket gleefully reaching
in to select one, two or three crabs that they wished to claim,
hoping their choice would be a quick 'runner',
win the race and win them a prize! 
With crabs selected the
contestant then told Tito the name they selected
for their crab which was written on a bit of tape stuck on the
crab’s hard shell and also written on a notebook with the
contestant’s name. When all bets were in, the smaller children
sat around the racing circle, adults behind them: all in
attendance of course were in tense anticipation. The crabs were
placed in the center of the racing circle and the race was on,
hermit crabs climbing over each other and racing outwards to the
finish line - quicker then you would think! Winning crabs were
collected and put in one bucket, those not to fast to the finish
line collected in a second bucket. Several rounds continued in
the same manner, until about a dozen winning crabs were selected
and those who had
bet on them were called up to receive their prizes.
Crab racing is not new to St. Croix; it is a traditional game or
pastime that has been reawakened to some extent by Tito and Sue
and by others who host such races. Crab races occur weekly so if
you are visiting or moving to St. Croix be sure to find out when
and where the crab races are and attend. Be sure to bet on a crab
as the prizes are great; free charters, free dinners, free
t-shirts, free booze, gift certificates for shopping,
certificates for ferry and sea plane service to island hop to
another island and much more!!
