When a crab attacks but fails to kill, it leaves a claw-shaped "repair scar" on the clam shell, "just like if you've healed from a broken bone," Barclay says.

The hermit crab only remains fully exposed for a brief moment. After a quick maneuver, it is out of its old shell and into its new, slightly roomier shell.

The No. 1 rule of soft shell crab season is that soft shell crab season is fleeting. A restaurant may post a special dish at 5 p.m. and run out of the good stuff by 6 p.m. There are no guarantees ...

That said, a soft-shell crab has all the same parts that a regular crab does: carapace, claws, legs, eyes, mouth, gills, organs, and so on. Distinct characteristics will vary from species to species.

Sure, ramps and morels are great, but come spring, the seasonal delicacy I most look forward to is a soft-shell crab sandwich. Get one—or another of these other creative takes—while you can. Anju 1805 ...

Call 757-549-7272. ___ Wicker’s Crab Pot Seafood “Here at Wicker’s, our local soft shell season usually jumps off during the first full moon of May,” says Chef Jason Campen.

A.E. Phillips & Son, a crab processor that sells to Phillips Seafood Restaurants and other local restaurants and seafood distributors, operates a plant in Fishing Creek that has offloaded its crab ...

Soft-shell crabs are blue crabs and not a different species, but the soft shell is due to it going through a molting process at this time of year. “It’s changing its armor, basically,” Kosik ...