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Callinectes sapidus

Callinectes sapidus (from the Greek calli- = "beautiful", nectes = "swimmer", and Latin sapidus = "savory"), the Chesapeake blue crab or Atlantic blue crab, or simply blue crab, is a species of crab native to the waters of the western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and introduced internationally.

C. sapidus is of significant culinary and economic importance in the United States, particularly in the Chesapeake Bay. It is the Maryland state crustacean and is the states largest commercial fishery.[2]


Females have a broad abdomen, like the dome of the Capitol.[3]
Males have a narrow abdomen, like the Washington Monument.[3]

Callinectes sapidus may grow to a carapace width of 230 mm (9.1 in). It can be distinguished from a related species occurring in the same area by the number of frontal teeth on the carapace; C. sapidus has four, while C. ornatus has six.[4]

Males and females of C. sapidus can be distinguished by the sexual dimorphism in the shape of the abdomen (known as the "apron"). It is long and slender in males, but wide and rounded in mature females; one popular mnemonic is that the male's is shaped like the Washington Monument, while the female's resembles the dome of the United States Capitol.[3] A female's abdomen changes as it matures: an immature female has a triangular-shaped abdomen, whereas a mature female's is rounded.[5]



Callinectes sapidus is native to the western edge of the Atlantic Ocean from Nova Scotia to Argentina and around the entire coast of the Gulf of Mexico.[7][8] It has been introduced (via ballast water) to Japanese and European waters, and has been observed in the Baltic, North, Mediterranean and Black Seas.[9] The first record from European waters was made in 1901 at Rochefort, France.[10] In some parts of its introduced range, C. sapidus has become the subject of crab fishery, including in Greece, where the local population may be decreasing as a result of overfishing.[10]



Callinectes sapidus is subject to a number of diseases and parasites.[13] They include a number of viruses, bacteria, microsporidians, ciliates, and others.[13] The nemertean worm Carcinonemertes carcinophila commonly parasitizes C. sapidus, especially females and older crabs, although it has little adverse effect on the crab.[13] A trematode that parasitizes C. sapidus is itself targeted by the hyperparasite Urosporidium crescens.[13] The most harmful parasites may be the microsporidian Ameson michaelis, the amoeba Paramoeba perniciosa and the dinoflagellate Hematodinium perezi, which causes "bitter crab disease".[14]

Life cycle[edit]

In the Chesapeake Bay, C. sapidus undergoes a seasonal migration. Female blue crabs only mate once in their lifetime. After mating, the female crab travels to the southern portion of the Chesapeake, using ebb tide transport to migrate from areas of low salinity to areas of high salinity.[15] fertilizing her eggs with sperm stored from her only mating months or almost a year before.[16] Up to two million eggs may be produced in a single brood, and a single female can produce over 8,000,000 eggs in her lifetime.[10] After brooding the eggs as an orange mass on her pleopods for around two weeks,[17] the female crab releases her eggs in November or December. The crabs hatch into larvae and float in the mouth of the bay for four to five weeks, after which the juvenile crabs make their way back into the bay.[16]

Commercial importance[edit]

Range of Fisheries[edit]



Chesapeake Bay Fishery[edit]

Recent Decline[edit]



Efforts to Manage Fisheries[edit]

Because of its commercial and environmental value, C. sapidus is the subject of management plans over much of its range.[8][21] In 2012, the C. sapidus population in Louisiana was recognized as a certified sustainable fishery by the Marine Stewardship Council.[22]

See also[edit]


  11. ^ "Blue Crab-About The bay". The Chesapeake Bay Foundation. 
  16. ^ a b "Migration". SERC: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. 
  21. ^ Vincent Guillory, Harriet Perry & Steve VanderKooy, ed. (October 2001). The Blue Crab Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico, United States: a Regional Management Plan (PDF) 96. Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission. Retrieved July 22, 2011. 



Source: Wikipedia