Because crabs are enclosed in a rigid exterior skeleton, they can grow only by shedding their shells. This molting takes place about seven times during the first year of bottom life, and decelerating rate in subsequent years. Reported crab kills at the ocean beaches are usually only molted shells that may wash up in the thousands. Because even the coverings of the eye stalks and kills are left with the molted shells, they are easily mistaken for dead crabs. Positive identification is made by determining whether the splitting line has ruptured to allow the new shelled crab to back out, or by the presence of or absence of meat in the crab. Odor will be absent on a molten shell, but nothing smells much worse than a crab that has been dead for several days.
Have fun, stay safe and beware of the “dead” crabs all over the beach! -Sooz
