Deadliest Catch

[BertiWooster]

I was watching an episode of the above the other night , which is in respect to crab fishermen who make their living in the Baring Sea , in Alaska .

When they returned to Harbour some of the crabs had died because of the temperature being too cold when they were being offloaded . They even showed heater blowers being directed into the tanks to raise the temperature .

My question is, how could they have died because of the temp being too cold , when these crabs live in the Baring sea, which is one of the coldest body of water on the planet ?

[ABerrant]

The air temperature may drop below 0 Celsius (greatly with wind chill) however the sea temperature is always above 0 C.

[Clanad]

ABerrant is correct, however, pedantically, it's the 'Bering' Sea...

[heathfield]

Seawater of average salinity freezes at -1.8°C

[jomifl]

Most deep sea animals are very intolerant of temperature changes even slow ones. Their blood would freeze at -3C which would definitely kill them. It can get quite cold in the Bering sea which can freeze, obviously cold enough to kill crabs. Don't try this at home as it could be painful and medication is available.