Mud crab (Scylla serrata), a popular seafood, is farmed on
a commercial scale in many tropical countries. Mud crab is now
monocultured with increasing density in the pond to supply the
growing market (Catacutan, 2002). Naturally, the crab grows by
molting during its life and the crab that has just molted is called
a soft shell crab. After molting, soft shell crabs have to be removed
from the seawater immediately to prevent hardening (Dassow,
1968). Soft shell crabs have become more popular, in part, because
they are sold at the higher value, compared to hard shell crab.
Freezing is an essential method commonly used to prevent the
deterioration of soft shell crabs during storage or distribution.
However, no information about the changes in chemical and
physicochemical properties during frozen storage of both types of
crabs has been reported. The objective of this study was to monitor
the chemical and physicochemical changes of muscles of hard and
soft shell mud crabs during frozen storage at 20 C.