Instructions: Know your crustaceans: a diners guide, BY KRISTIN EDDY, Chicago Tribune Here are some common labels applied to crabs:

Atlantic Blue: Among the best-known crab types, these can be found from Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico. The largest concentrations are in the Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of Mexico. These crabs get their name from the blue color on the males claws. The firm, sweet meat is equally good served hot or cold. Whole blue crabs may be steamed in bulk, cracked and picked, but the classic mid-Atlantic steamed crab recipe calls for them to be cooked with liberal doses of Old Bay seasoning, which is licked off the fingers as the crab meat is extracted from the shell and eaten.

Dungeness: These crabs can be found from the Aleutian Islands to Southern California and are at the peak of their season from mid-November to February.

The meat is very sweet and feathery. The shelled meat is best served cold.

Jonah, rock or peekytoe: These are various names for a kind of crab found primarily from eastern Canada to Cape Cod. They have large claws and knuckles, which are the major source of their meat.

King: These large crabs are found in the northern Pacific, from Alaska to Russia and Japan. The crabs usually are broken into sections, glazed in brine and frozen before shipping.

She-crabs: Have you ever seen she-crab soup on a menu? You will if you travel to Charleston, S.C., where its a popular specialty. It simply means soup made with female blue crabs and their roe, which gives the soup a pink tinge.

Soft-shell: Blue crabs that have shed their winter shell and not yet grown a new, hard shell for the summer. The season begins in April, but consumers usually dont see fresh soft-shell crabs until June. The crabs are dressed, or cleaned, by having the eyes and gills removed. After that, every bit of the crab may be eaten. They are preferably served pan-fried or deep-fried; they do not take well to boiling, steaming or grilling. The yellow matter in a cooked soft-shell is the liver and may be eaten.

Stone: In season from October to May, these hardy crabs are harvested off Florida and Texas. The crabs are pulled from the sea, shorn of one claw and returned to the water, where a claw grows anew in 1 year to 18 months. Claw sizes are classified from medium (about seven claws to a pound) to the far rarer colossal (one or two claws to a pound). Stone crabs are purchased already cooked and chilled.

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