Craftsman's Crab

The Craftsman's Crab is a domesticated hybrid of a Kataman Crab and one of several much smaller crab species. Marketable hybrids retain the Kataman's ability to spray adhesive saliva from its mouth, but not the instinct to gather and build the kataman nest characteristic of the Kataman species, as well as the common defensive spitting behaviour exhibited by other crab species. This results in a crab that can be kept in captivity that produce a ready supply of a particularly strong and stable adhesive. This has applications in various skilled trades, including furniture making, bookbinding, making the Craftsman's Crab a common sight in well equipped workshops throughout Asuria.

Breeding Process

Due to the natural breeding habits of the Kataman Crab, hybrid crabs are not seen in nature, and require the application of a magical potion to produce. The exact formula of this potion is a trade secret, and has proven to be a challenge to many would-be competitors; none seem to guess it is simply a highly illegal love potion, which causes the crabs to feel an uncontrollable urge to mate with the first being it sees.
Crab species considered suitable for hybridization with the Kataman Crab must reliably spit water at objects waved in front of them, a common behaviour believed to be intended to deter larger predators. Optional but favourable traits include growing slowly, having relatively weak pincirs, and a relatively short life cycle - the Kataman Crab can survive decades, a shorter lived breeding partner produces a Craftsman's Crab that will last for a few years, long enough to satisfy customers while ensuring that replacements will be needed often enough to keep the business operating. (This is argued to be a positive, citing the expertise needed to produce the Craftsman's Crab - even very long lived hybrids would not last forever, and if all workshops were equipped with long lived crabs, there might be nobody producing them when replacements became necessary.)

Care and Handling

A workshop equipped with a Craftsman's Crab must provide a suitable living environment for it. This is comprised of a small glass aquarium (no larger than a quarter meter on a side is necessary, available at any licensed Craftsman's Crab reseller) containing seawater (or heavily salted water, if seawater is unavailable). The water should be stirred vigorously on a daily basis, and changed weekly. Feedings are recommended once a day, after the stirring procedure, providing one scoop of our Craftman's Crabfeed (or a similar proportion of minced seaweed and raw fish in emergencies, though our formulation ensures proper nutrition for your Craftsman's Crab while minimizing the smell common to other products). Liability for tending to your Craftsman's Crab falls solely on the purchaser - it is a living creature that must be cared for properly, not a tool that can be neglected for months and repaired later.

— Care and Handling pamphlet provided alongside any purchased Craftsman's Crab

Crafters seeking to use a Craftsman's Crab must first catch the crab and pull it from the aquarium. This is quite easy to do, given the small size of the aquarium, but it takes some skill to do this without being pinched once or twice first. (While live crabs intended for food are often sold with their claws bound, this practice is harmful for the long term health of a crab, and thus not suitable for a long life in captivity.) Once caught, the crab must be presented with a glue receptacle, which it will spray with a quantity of glue, after which it should immediately be returned to its aquarium. The glue must be applied quickly, as it stays sticky for only a few minutes, and is fully set in as little as 15 minutes. Due to this, some crafters prefer to have the crab apply the glue directly to the finished product, but this tends to result in overspray that takes a great deal of sanding or scraping to clean up later. Skilled workers typically have their crabs spray glue into a small clay pot, and work quickly to transfer the glue from that to their final workpiece, as well as clamping everything in place to create a seamless fit. Clamps can be removed after the glue sets, but are often left on overnight as it takes several hours for the glue joint to cure and reach its maximum strength.