Help identifying crab?

[longislandnovice]

Hi everyone - I live on Long Island and just tried crabbing for the first time yesterday. I was on a pier that people have had luck on in the past, but maybe not the best over the past few years. There was a storm recently and the bay is still filled with a bunch of seaweed, but I managed to lure two black crabs with orangish underbellies. They were too small, one was a virgin and I let them go, but I'd like to learn more about identifying other crabs. Are these spider crabs? Any advice about these crabs (and whether or not they're tasty!) would be really appreciated.

Z

[gcs]

they're green crabs, mostly used for blackfish bait, but you can eat them especially when soft, ugly but tastes like a softshell crab