soft-shell crab
noun1
A crab, especially the blue crab, that has recently molted and whose new exoskeleton has not yet hardened, rendering the entire animal soft and edible.
- 'Soft-shell crabs with tartare sauce, flat beef Hamburgers, medium-rare, from the charcoal grill, french-fried potatoes, broccoli, mixed salad with thousand-island dressing, ice-cream with melted butterscotch and as good a Liebfraumilch as you can get in America. Okay?'1954, Ian Fleming, “The Red Carpet”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 9: