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Animal profile

Blue Crab

Callinectes sapidus

MalacostracaEstuaries, seagrass beds and muddy bottoms from fresh to fully marine salinity

Field profile

The blue crab is a swimming crab whose last pair of legs is flattened into paddles. It supports one of the largest crab fisheries on the western Atlantic coast, particularly in Chesapeake Bay. Its scientific name translates roughly as beautiful swimmer that is savoury.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2024-07-24

Blue Crab

A soft-shell crab is a blue crab caught mid-moult

Soft-shell crab is not a species. It is an ordinary blue crab harvested in the few hours after it sheds its old shell, before the new one hardens, a window that watermen predict by reading coloured lines on the swimming paddles.

Read with evidence →

Blue Crab | Daily Animal Facts