MARYLAND AT A GLANCE

SEAFOOD

[photo, Adam Wexler after feast of steamed crabs, Anne Arundel County, Maryland]

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Blue Crabs. Plentiful from late spring through fall, blue crabs turn red when steamed. When mature, they measure five to seven inches across. Soft shell crabs are blue crabs that have outgrown and therefore shed their hard outer shell and whose new shells have not yet hardened. Soft shell crabs generally are available from May through September.

The Maryland Blue Crab is the State Crustacean.

Adam Wexler after feast of steamed crabs, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, June 2003. Photo by Elizabeth W. Newell.