0JNC Sea Grant 



North 



5 



na 5t#te Library 



September, 1983 



COAST 4 WATCH 



Photo by Wading Creek Photo Service 



Looking down into a box of soft-shell crabs packed for market 



The shell cracks, 



splits, and opens. What emerges is 

 a tender fistful of some of the 

 sweetest eating anywhere: the soft- 

 shell crab. 



It's a transformation so fleeting and lovely, 

 fishermen refuse to call it molting. Crabs, 

 they insist, peel. Or shed. 



Peelers, they say, are hard crabs on their way 

 to going soft. Shedders are the fishermen who help 

 them on their way. Now that you know the terms, 

 read about the whys and hows. 



Inside, the business of crab-shedding, and the 

 delectable soft crab. 



