soft shell
Flexible outer layer
Soft shell describes a creature, typically a crab or turtle, that has recently molted and has a new shell that hasn't yet hardened.
Soft-shell crabs are prized in cooking because the entire animal can be eaten without removing the shell.
The term also applies to certain turtle species whose shells remain leathery rather than bony throughout life.
As an adjective, it can describe anything with a flexible outer covering: soft-shell luggage, soft-shell jacket.
- tacoFilled, folded flatbread
- crabPincer-bearing shellfish
- turtleShell-encased reptile
- blue crabSwimming crab, Atlantic coast
- po boyGulf Coast submarine sandwich
outer layer · arthropod · mollusk · Dungeness · windbreaker · molting · shrimp · fleece · vulnerable · lobster · sushi roll · crispy · fried · flexibility · pliability · cephalopod · crunchy · tempura
- turtle shellcarapace, plastron, scutes
- Athletic Outerwearwindbreaker, track jacket, hoodie, fleece jacket, warm-up jacket
- reptile diseasesrespiratory infection, stomatitis, thermal burns, impaction, gout
- flexible thingspliant, elastic, bendy, stretchy, springy
- crustacean developmentlarva, juvenile, molt, metamorphosis, egg
- Mexican foodtacos, chilaquiles, taco, huevos rancheros, burritos
soft shellhard shell
Rigid outer protective layer
armored · exoskeleton · calcified · carapace · bony
soft shellhard shell
Rigid outer protective layer
armored · fortified · impenetrable · tough · shielded