peeler

Callinectes sapidus
#nm_0613📍 International
Language
English
Transliteration
peeler

English peeler (moult-stage term for a blue crab nearing its moult); agent noun of peel, for the crab about to shed its old shell

Swimming crab (Portunidae) native to the western Atlantic from Cape Cod to Argentina. Distinctive blue coloration, carapace up to 23cm wide. Invasive in the Mediterranean, where it threatens native mollusk populations.