Jeff Massey worked 21 years at Livingston Bulls Bay Seafood before he and his wife, Kim Livingston, bought the McClellanville, South Carolina, market from Kim’s parents. Along the way, Jeff became an expert in timing the influx of those malleable mollusks.

“The season does not really have a hard date,” says Jeff. “It’s based on water temperature and air temperature. A very specific temperature range has to be hit to kick it off.”

Some surprising specific signals in nature signal the soft-shell season is beginning. “Strawberries are a dead-on indicator,” he says. “The dogwoods bloom, and we know we are within a couple of weeks. But whenever the u-pick strawberry farms start up … we’re within a day or two of each other every time.”

Crabbers catch the “peelers” — crabs on the verge of molting — and sell them, live and still residing in the rigid confines of their now-too-small shells, to local seafood markets.

Often caught with non-molting blue crabs, peelers are identified by a tell-tale reddish belly color and fished out of the crabbers’ crab pots. “Green” blue crabs are not ready to shed and can only be harvested if they have a 5-inch minimum measurement from point to point. But peeler crabs have no such minimum requirement because it is impossible to tell how big they will be after they shed.

“When they come out of their shell, they expand,” says Jeff. “They’ll grow close to 50 percent of their original size every time.”

Jeff looks at the two back fins of the peeler crabs to help predict whether or not the molting process is eminent. When the crab first begins to pull its leg out of the back fin, a little white line appears. A red line occurs when the crab pulls up further still. Without line evidence on the back legs, crabs can linger for up to two weeks before deciding to pull up stakes and build a new home. The goal is to get crabs that are as close to shedding as possible.

“White lines on the back leg mean they are going to shed within a few days, and the red lines mean they are going to shed in the next day or two.”

Jeff’s facility has 60 tanks, each 4 feet by 8 feet, filled with approximately 400 crabs. The sheer number of peevish little pinchers requires a minimum of two or three employees on duty to monitor the tanks seven days a week, 24 hours a day. The crew put their hands in the tanks — very carefully — to check each crab for cracks in the shell. Once a split is detected, the crab is classified as a buster and must immediately be removed from the rest of its peeler peers. If not, the other crabs will gang up on the fracturing crab and erratically stab at it.

“Crabs don’t like anything,” says Jeff. “They’ll just randomly try to bite you.”

Put into a separate tank for busters, these vulnerable shedders are watched carefully as they turn to super busters — those crabs in the final phase of transformation. At this point, they appear to undergo an illuminating self-epiphany, put aside their ill-tempered ways, and no longer attempt to bite or pinch any fingers within claw distance. These kinder, gentler, down-right-affable mollusks are put into a separate tank to complete their shedding process. They have only about 20 minutes to make it or they become a “still,” a croaker, a washed up, never-to-see-the-inside-of-a-sandwich crab. And if they survive the molt but aren’t quickly removed from the water, they will start to harden back up and, yes, immediately try to bite.

“If they get just a little bit hardened,” he says, “we don’t use them. They’re called ‘leather backs’ and aren’t any good as soft-shells. Crabs will harden up and molt multiple times during their life as it is the only way they can get any bigger.”

Seasons within the season tend to inspire the crabs to shed their shells. A full moon, the weather, and the changing tides are all triggers for molt-minded crabs.

“If you have a thunderstorm,” says Jeff, “get ready because it’s on. They’re going to go crazy.” And if there is a thunderstorm at low tide? “You’d better bring in extra help!” says Jeff.

Allen Clifton, owner of Clifton Seafood in Columbia, agrees. “I don’t know why, but when we have full moons,” says Allen, “crabs shed out like crazy. You’d have four or five a night shedding, but when a full moon comes, you’ll get 40 or 50 shedders easily.”

The Clifton family started their seafood business in the early 1980s but was in the commercial fishing industry for many years prior to opening their market. After years of tending shedding soft-shells, he now purchases them immediately after molting is complete.

“It’s a tough process,” says Allen. “They are totally defenseless when they shed out.”

Crabs mate when they are at this most vulnerable state and, perhaps not coincidentally, are the least crabby versions of themselves. The male crab does a little dance, complete with complicated crab two-stepping maneuvers and wild gesturing claw displays, in hopes of attracting a willing, pheromone releasing soon-to-peel female, then holds and guards her while she begins to molt.

“The only time a crab can mate is after it’s shedded,” says Allen. “It’s the only time they can line up. After they mate, the male will sit and protect the female while she’s hardening back up.”