Figure 151. — Callinectes sapidus Rathbun. Animal in dorsal view (after Rathbun, 1884). 



Habitat, — Found on a variety of bottom types 

 in estuaries and shallow oceanic water; water's 

 edge to 20 fathoms. 



Type locality. — [East coast of United States]. 



Known range. — Native recent range, Nova 

 Scotia (no longer endemic, Bousfield, personal 

 communication) to Uruguay ; Bermuda. The spe- 

 cies has been introduced in Europe, and was re- 

 ported from southwest France in 1901 ; from Hol- 

 land in 1932, 1934, and 1951; near Copenhagen, 

 Denmark, in 1951; in and near Venice, Italy, in 

 1949 and 1950; and in Israel in 1955. Holthuis 

 (1961) reviewed these occurrences in addition to 

 recently found well-established colonies in Tur- 

 key and Greece and remarked that the species 

 must now be regarded as indigenous to Europe. 



Remarks. — There is a tremendous literature 

 concerning the blue crab, largely because of its 

 great economic value. Since it is not possible to 

 summarize this literature in a brief account such 

 as this, the interested student is referred to the 

 comprehensive bibliography compiled by Cronin, 

 Van Engel, Cargo, and Wojcik (1957) for a list of 

 the literature to that date, to excellent life history 



and ecological summaries by Churchill (1919), 

 Truitt (1939), and Van Engel (1958) for the crab 

 in Chesapeake Bay; and to Darnell (1959) for 

 occurrence in Louisiana. Though these papers are 

 current and available, for the sake of convenience 

 certain essentials are reviewed here. 



The fossil record for Callinectes sapidus reaches 

 back to the lower Miocene of Florida, and the 

 species has been found at later levels in Virginia, 

 Massachusetts, New Jersey, and the Carolinas 

 (Kathbun, 1935; Blake, 1953). 



The spawning season on the east coast of the 

 United States is quite long. Females with yellow 

 egg masses attached have been found in North 

 Carolina from as early as March 21 to as late as 

 October 26. In that area, the greatest number of 

 females with eggs occur in spring, the time of 

 peak occurrence varying somewhat with season. 

 In Chesapeake Bay, the spawning season, with 

 rare exceptions, extends from late April to early 

 September with the peak occurring in June. 

 Farther south, on the coast of Texas the spawning 

 season extends from December to October and 

 may include November as well, but the peak oc- 



MARINE DECAPOD CRUSTACEANS OF THE CAROLINAS 



169 



