While practically everyone knows about eating crab, very few people other than experienced fishermen know about the virtues of the peeler crab. Not as a delicacy to eat, but rather as one of the best baits to use at certain times of the year to capture some of the best fish ever.Crabs are crustaceans, and part of the Arthropod family. Crustaceans are best identified by the rigid external shell they sport, which serves as their home and protective defensive mechanism. The shell develops at a very early age, and the crab soon outgrows this exoskeleton as its body size expands. As the crab gets larger, so must the shell. The hard composition of the shell, however, does not allow growth. In order to be able to grow, the crustacean must discard, or molt, the shell that is confining and grow a new, larger shell. During its youth while growth is rapid, a crab will likely molt as often as every few weeks. This rapid growth soon slows, and molting then occurs once every several months, although very large crabs will generally molt only once each year. The term “peeler crab” refers to any crab that is undergoing a molt.