The moeches, soft and perfectly delicious in the Venetian in the early spring are a typical delicacies of the lagoon cuisine. Within a few days at the beginning of autumn and early Spring the crabs go through a period in which they abandon the old carapace and build a new and equally rigid, larger armor, which allows the growth of their size.

Within the days of the beginning of the biological process of construction of the new shell the small lagoon crabs appear soft and without armor and can be tasted whole without difficulty.

According to local tradition, as an adjective to identify the condition of the symbol of Venice par excellence, a the winged Lion rising from the water, which is called el leon en moeca, considered a jewel of the sea.