- 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.
