Length about 7 cm. Back greenish. This is the soft crab which has been cultivated in the Lagoon of Venice since the eighteenth century.* The object is to market the crabs immediately after they have moulted. If a crab which has moulted is allowed to stay in the water its new skin will by a process of calcification become hard within a matter of hours. So timing is very important. The crabs are kept in hatcheries as the moulting season approaches and inspected several times daily so that they can be taken out at the right moment. Males and females both moult in the spring. The males alone moult again in the autumn.
