The Crab Shanty

The Crab Shanty. . , A crab shanty is a structure for raising soft crabs and is made of a group of irrigated trays, called shedding tanks or land floats, in which the crabs are kept. Raising softs shells is considered one of the earliest forms of aquaculture, and was developed in the mid 1800s. Shanties can be irrigated with water drawn directly from a natural source, or through a closed system like that in an aquarium. Until the 1940s, floats were slatted wooden containers that floated directly into the bay. These groups of floats were called crab pounds. Soft crabs, crabs that have just molted, are a culinary delicacy, so this is the stage that has the most commercial value. An experienced waterman can identify the crabs in the catch that will soon shed (or molt), and these are transferred to the shanty. The crabs are sorted based on how soon they will shed. A crab's shell is only soft for several hours, so the floats require constant supervision., The Soft Crab Industry , Those living near the Chesapeake Bay have caught and raised soft crabs for their own use for centuries. The arrival of the railroad to Crisfield in 1866 made it possible to ship this highly perishable product long distances, ushering in the commercial soft crab industry. Soft crabs were transported to seafood markets and restaurants in Philadelphia and New York. They can be shipped live, packed in moist cool packaging or sea grass. Today they are also available frozen. Soft shells are sorted by size ranging from jumbos (over 5.5 inches) to mediums (3.5 to 4 inches). Crisfield was once home to dozens of crab processing businesses that provided both hard and soft crabs. Today Metompkin Bay Seafood, Handy Seafood, H. Glenwood Evans, and Southern Connection Seafood continue to be major producers and distributors of soft shell crabs., Cleaning and Cooking , Blue crabs are the only crab species which is commercially available in soft shell form. A soft crab needs to be cleaned, or dressed before cooking. The face, including the mouth and eyes are cut off, and the lungs and apron removed. The traditional method for cooking a soft crab is to coat it in flour and spices, fry it until crisp, and serve it on a roll.,

Facts about Blue Crab Molting. . A crab will she 25 to 27 times by adulthood. , . A crab ½ to 1 inch wide will molt every three to five days. , . A crab over 3 ½ inches wide will molt about every 20 days. , . A female is mature at 14 to 18 months and 5 inches wide, and usually stops growing at this point. , . Males mature at 4 inches and continue to grow. , . Females can only mate during a soft shell phase. , . After shedding, the new shell is 25 to 35% larger than the old one. , . The new shell is hard within several hours.

, [Captions:] , In the past, watermen had to row out every few hours to see if the crabs had molted. The crabs were also vulnerable to predatory birds. The wooden floats would eventually become waterlogged and need to be hauled on shore to dry out for several weeks., Commercial shanties like the one pictured above contain dozens of floats.