Soft Shell Crab Facts
By Renee Shelton
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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