rl36 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



by working his muscles, gradually frees his legs and body from 

 the old skin and finally gets entirely out of it. In this stage 

 he is entirely helpless, but the new skin soon hardens, and he 

 is able to walk away. Crabs immediately after shedding are 

 known as " soft shells " and are greatly esteemed for the table, 

 having a market value greatly in excess of that of the hard 

 crab. 



This shedding does not take place at any particular time of 

 the summer but depends entirely on the rate of growth. The 

 young crabs molt more frequently than the older ones. 



Crab fishing industries of New York 



The crab fishing industry is one which, for several reasons, 

 does not appear to flourish on Long Island. In fact, judging 

 from a comparison of Rathbun's paper of 1880 with the observa- 

 tions made by the writer, the fisheries appear to have decreased 

 to a certain extent since then. It is hoped, however, to give 

 at a future time some more exact statistics concerning this. 



The crab fishing is divided into two sections, the hard crab 

 and the soft crab industry, each of which on Long Island is re- 

 stricted to certain localities. 



The hard shell crabs are, of course, taken everywhere on the 

 island by the summer residents for amusement, and a few are 

 everywhere taken by fishermen for local use. The fishing for 

 the New York markets is however confined entirely at the 

 present time to the shallow waters of Moriches bay, and practi- 

 cally all the crabs caught are shipped from Center Moriches and 

 Brookhaven. Twenty years ago a number of other places also 

 shipped crabs, but the men say that it does not pay to do it 

 now. 



The fishing for crabs at these places commences about the 

 middle of July and lasts well into September or October. After 

 that, the crabs start for deeper water and many are caught and 

 shipped from places in Great South bay. The number of crabs 

 shipped from the two places mentioned averages about 50 

 barrels a day, running up sometimes to 80, in the night of the 



