The first commercially fished Dungeness crab arrived on Marin docks Saturday, much to the delight of shellfish lovers amped to crack open some shells.

Western Boat & Tackle in San Rafael got an early load on Saturday that had customers clawing at the store’s seafood counter all afternoon. Western owner Scott Hill said his store received about 1,000 pounds of crab at 12:30 p.m., and expected to be sold out by 5 p.m.

“Everybody wants them, and we can’t cook them fast enough,” Hill said.

Customers were anything but crabby, as many had reason to celebrate.

“I’m celebrating Marin Catholic’s win today” in football, said Novato resident Adrienne Margalis, while buying some crab at Western.

Kate Carpenter of Danville scheduled her day around picking up the crab. She said she put in her order at Western, went stand-up paddleboarding in Richardson Bay with the group she came with, and then returned to pick up her order.

“People are coming over for a crab party tonight,” Carpenter said. “Anything that’s left over will become crab salad.”

Most of them bought crab that Hill and his staff boiled behind the shop, though some came searching for live crabs.

Hill said that once pre-orders were met, they could start selling to walk-in customers.

While recreational crab fishing started Nov. 1, commercial fishermen had to wait until midnight Nov. 15 to begin pulling crab traps from the ocean. They were allowed to set their traps the day before.

While Western was busy selling crab, Keith Fraser and his staff at Loch Lomond Live Bait House were down the road, waiting for their first load to arrive.

At 5 p.m., Fraser said he was expecting the boat to arrive around 7 p.m.

The fisherman “is on his way in,” said Fraser. “They have lots of crab.”