R T XXI. 



THE CRAB, LOBSTER, CRAYFISH, ROCK LOBSTER, SHRIMP, AND PRAWN 



FISHERIES. 



Bv RICHARD RATHBUN. 



L THE CRAB FISHERIES. 



(a.) FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC AND GULF COASTS. 



COMMON EDIBLE CRAB, OB BLUE CRAB. 

 1. NATURAL HISTORY AND USES OF THE BLUE CRAB. 



The common edible crab, or blue crab (Callinectes hastatus, Ordway), occurs in greater or less 

 abundance along the entire eastern and southern coasts of the United States, from Massachusetts 

 Bay to Mexico, and gives rise to an industry which, among crustaceans, is second only to that of 

 the lobster. It is used both as food and bait, and also to some extent as a fertilizer. 



From a part of this region three additional species of the same genus, regarded by some 

 authorities, however, merely as varieties of this species, have been recorded. They are : Callinectes 

 oniatus, ranging southward from Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, and Callinectes larvatus and 

 tiimidus, occurring in Southern Florida and the West Indies. These several species, including 

 the blue crab, resemble one another so closely that they would probably not be distinguished 

 apart by the fishermen, and it is not unlikely that one or more of the additional forms may con- 

 tribute toward the market supplies in some places. Of their relative abundance, however, we know 

 nothing positively, but among large numbers of specimens sent from the Southern markets we 

 have failed to recognize any form but the genuine blue crab. From New Orleans, La., we 

 have received two species of crabs belonging to other genera, which are sold in the markets but 

 to what extent we are not informed. One of these is the lady crab (Platyoniclms ocellatus) also 

 occurring on the Atlantic coast, but neither of these species is enumerated separately in the 

 returns of the crab fisheries of Louisiana. 



The stone crab (Menippe mercenarius) fishery of the Southern States constitutes, however, a 

 totally distinct and well-defined industry, and the same can be said with regard to the rock crab 

 (Cancer irroratits) and the Jonah crab (Cancer borealis) of the New England coast, so far as they 

 are fished for. 



NAME. Callinectes hastatus has received a long list of vernacular names, many of which arc 

 quite local in their application. Those most in use are as follows : "Edible crab," "common 

 crab," and " blue crab," toward the north ; " sea crab" and " channel crab" along the middle and 

 southern Atlantic coast, and "gulf crab" in the Gulf of Mexico. The more local names are 



