A video grab from Beijing TV shows a crab tied with a 31-meter string.
Overwrapping a creature to be sold seems to be too much.
Some disgruntled customers report that they bought crabs tied-up with 31 meters of string during the past National Day holiday, BTV evening news said.
The water-sodden string, which was used to secure the crab's claws, accounted for 20% of its total weight.
However, this isn't the only scam you have to look out for on the local fish market. Last week, a restaurant in Qingdao was caught trying to trick customers by listing the price of shrimp dishes per shrimp rather than per dish. A man complained when his dish, with 40 shrimp at 38 RMB each, came to 1,520 RMB.