Soft Shells Give My Friends Soft Bellies

6 PM, hungry and a salty mess from the sweltering heat, I randomly message Emoly to grab some eats.  After an intense game of "not-it," we finally deliberate on getting Happy Hour at one of the local breweries.  Since Poi was in the area, I gave him a ring.

(In his Rip Van Winkle impersonation)- "Hellooooooo"

Me- "Top of the morning to ya!  Eats?"

Poi- "Oh man....noooo good, I need to get ready"

Me- "No prob, happy hour ends at 7pm"

We finally arrive at Joe's Sushi, an AYCE place ...because breakfast is the most important meal of the day and we wanted to start Poi's day just right...the same time Jeopardy airs.  

As we began filling the endless voids in our stomachs with fish, rice and brew, we noticed one item that was only allowed once per visit; the spider roll.  For those of you unfamiliar, the spider roll is your typical California roll, but with the addition of fried soft-shelled crab and other japanese glazes.

The question was then asked, "why is this species of crab so expensive?"

Me: [Insert nerdy science talk]

Poi: That should go in your blog!

-Nerdy Science Talk-
Soft-shelled crabs are not a species of crab, but instead, a crab that recently molts its carapace/shell.  A crab's molting process is very similar to insects molting their exoskeleton like spiders or this cicada 

What fishermen do is harvest these crabs right before the shell is molted and are shipped freshly to distributors where waiting begins.  Once the shell molts, the shells are either frozen or sold to be consumed within a few days.  However, if the crab is not dispatched in time, the shell will harden, thus making it impossible to pass as soft-shelled crab.  The increased pricing of these shellfish are due to increased cost of labor through careful handling...as opposed to how they handle crabs in "Deadliest Catch."

And if I were to eat a tarantula, i'd imagine they'd taste like my crustacean companions.