Piebald Crab

Type: Chesapeake
Region: Lower Bay
Location: Dames Quarters

One (1) male piebald crab caught in Dames Quarter (last week). I released him.

DNR Response: The term "piebald" is generally used for vertebrates, but it definitely fits for this crab even if its not 100% technically correct. Anyone that hunts deer or deals with horses would know the term piebald.

A piebald or pied animal is one that has a spotting pattern of large unpigmented, usually white, areas of hair, feathers, or scales and normally pigmented patches, generally black. The colour of the animal's skin underneath its coat is also pigmented under the dark patches and unpigmented under the white patches. This alternating colour pattern is irregular and asymmetrical. Animals with this pattern may include horses, dogs, birds, cats, pigs, and cattle, as well as snakes such as the ball python.