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Soft Shell Crab Facts
By Renee Shelton

crab
Above picture courtesy of FishStockPhoto.com.

Soft Shell Crab Information and Facts:

  • Female blue crabs have red tipped claws, male typically all blue
  • Blue crabs may be found in other locations—larval and juvenile crabs have been known to attach themselves to ship hulls or be transported in a ship's water ballast. They are sold live and may have been released in new areas.
  • Because of the crab's physiology, there is a harvesting process that is unique to this fishery: the crab MUST be removed from the water immediately after shedding its shell. If it remains in the water the shell starts to harden. The shell will not harden our of water.
  • If the crab stays in the water just a short time after molting, the skin gets a bit tough and almost leathery. These crabs are called 'tin backs'. They are still OK to use in the soft shell preparation but the carapace and legs will be a bit tougher.
  • Harvesting a soft shell is by luck. Commercially crabs are harvested during their hard shell stage and put into 'shedding tanks' on land with either filtered recalculating water or water circulated directly from the ocean or bay, or in floating cages called 'shedding floats' in bays or estuaries. In any method, the crabs must be checked every couple of hours to remove them at the peak of quality.
  • Soft shells can be found live, fresh in season or frozen year round.

Renee Shelton is the owner of this site, runs the fishing chef blog, and is the Fishing Editor for the 2nd largest women's website on the internet, BellaOnline.com.

This article belongs to Renee Shelton.
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Fishing 'Culinary Info' created by Fishing & Food Editor, Renee Shelton.

 

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