paper-shell
Callinectes sapidus
#nm_0616📍 International
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- English
- Transliteration
- paper-shell
Compound: paper + shell paper: thin and papery, shell: the crab's exoskeleton ↳ the moult stage a little past soft-shell, once the new shell begins to firm up but is still thin and flexible
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.