Blue Crab Glossary -- R-Z

Rank or Rank Peeler -- Red sign peeler approximately 2 hours before busting.

Red Sign (Rim) Crab -- Following the pink sign stage. A thin red line along the inner border of the back fin (paddle) about 2 days before molt.

Sally Crab -- Immature female, the apron is still attached. She-crab.

Seconds -- Crabs that have just turned from a white sign to a pink sign. Pink sign crabs.

She-Crab -- Immature female.

Shed -- Either the empty shell or the process of casting off the shell.

Snot Crab -- White sign crab, so named because of the watery substance, which issues from the "nicking" of the claws.

Soft Crab -- Crab that has just shed its old shell and now has a soft pliable shell before hardening.

Sook -- A mature female.

Sponge Crab -- Female crab carrying an egg mass; berried crab; busted sook; cushion crab; lemon bellie; lemon crab; orange crab; punk; ballie.

Terminal Molt -- The final molt, usually associated with the female because, at this time, mating takes place while in the soft shell state.

"Ticky" Crab -- One that smells of iodoform, probably because of eating a marine bottom animal called Balanoglossus.

Water Gall, White Crab, Windjammer -- Crab that is almost in the hard shell condition or just hard and is very light in color and weight.

White Sign (Rim) Crab -- The fat, green or snot crab condition. A thin white line along the inner border of the back fin (paddle) about 2 weeks before molt.

Zoea -- The larva that hatches from the egg and continues until the megalopa stage.

*Information courtesy of the University of Delaware Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service.

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