soft-shell
Callinectes sapidus
#nm_0615📍 International
- Language
- English
- Transliteration
- soft-shell
Compound: soft + shell soft: not yet hardened, shell: the crab's exoskeleton ↳ the moult stage immediately after shedding, before the new shell calcifies
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.