WILLIAMS: CRABS OK THE GENUS CALLINECTES 



no doubt that C. sapidus is the most valuable in 

 commercial fisheries, providing a highly accept- 

 able, nutritious product worth several million dol- 

 lars annually in the United States alone. Tradi- 

 tionally, the seat of this fishery in the United 

 States has been Chesapeake Bay where records on 

 the fishery have been kept for about a century. 

 Pearson (1948), summarizing annual catch for 

 this area from 1880 to 1942, showed the annual 

 catch to have increased from 9.5 million pounds in 

 1890 to a peak of 68.7 million pounds in 1930. 

 Catch, however, fluctuated before and after 1930, 

 declining to 35.8 million by 1942 during World 

 War II. Van Engel ( 1962) provided a history of the 

 types of gear used in this fishery, an evolution 

 from hand-dip trotline to the baited crab pot (trap) 

 and dredge. Adoption of the baited pot and its 

 spread to the Carolinas and elsewhere during the 

 late 1950 's, along with other methods of capture 

 including incidental harvest of crabs from shrimp 

 trawls, greatly expanded the catch. By 1967 

 (latest available annual summary) the U.S. 

 fishery landed nearly 150 million pounds of hard 

 and soft crabs worth 10 million dollars (Lyles, 

 1969). 



The species is harvested throughout its range 

 either as an object of commercial enterprise or for 

 home use. Taissoun (1969, and pers. commun.) 

 reported a growing industry in Venezuela. 

 Banoub (1963) reported growth of an Egyptian 

 fishery in lakes (poor flavor) and sea (good flavor), 

 but remarked on losses from damage to nets and 

 on the myriads of crabs having no local commer- 

 cial value because the Egyptians consider the 

 meat unpalatable (Fishing News International, 

 1965). A developing fishery in Northern Greece 

 (Kinzelbach, 1965 ) declined because of overfishing 

 (Boschma, 1972). 



Fossil record. — I have reviewed the fossil mate- 

 rial treated by Rathbun (1919a, b, 1935) and 

 more recent acquisitions in collections of the 

 USNM and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and 

 concluded that only two specimens can be posi- 

 tively identified as C. sapidus. Eighteen lots of 

 specimens are probably Callinectes, and some of 

 these are possibly C. sapidus, but most of the 

 remains are too fragmentary for positive 

 identification. The entire record ranges from 

 lower Miocene of Florida to Pleistocene of Mary- 

 land and New Jersey, material identifiable to 

 species probably being limited exclusively to the 

 Pleistocene. 



Published records of Pleistocene occurrence in- 

 clude Lupa dicantha (= C. sapidus) from sandy 

 beds in Wadmalaw Sound, S.C. (Holmes, 1858), a 

 two-thirds grown specimen of C. hastatus ( = 

 sapidus) in a concretion from excavation for a 

 Hudson River Tunnel on the New Jersey side 

 (Whitfield, 1891), a male C. sapidus from near 

 the mouth of Choptank River at Cook Point, 

 Dorchester Co., Md., and fragmentary remains 

 from Wailes Bluff near Cornfield Harbor, and 

 Federalsburg, Md., as well as Heislerville, N.J. 

 (Clark, 1906), all cited by Rathbun (1935). 



USGS 25272. (- Locality of Tulane University 

 Department of Geology, Field No. 546). Eight-foot 

 ( + ) vertical exposure 0.52 mi (0.84 km) due E 

 Florida hwy. 84 (30°29'55"N, 85°1 1 '32"W) along N 

 bank of prominent sharp bend in Ten Mile Creek, 

 Calhoun Co., Fla. Material collected "in situ" from 

 the lower 3 ft (0.9 m) of section. Chipola Forma- 

 tion; late Lower Miocene. Paul E. Drez, summer, 

 1972, on loan from Warren C. Blow, Paleontology 

 and Stratigraphy Branch, USGS. (A) A well- 

 preserved right palm and one-third of propodal 

 finger, facets bearing resemblance to C. decliuis 

 on external face, but hand broad and flat dorsally 

 as in females of modern Callinectes, molar com- 

 plex absent. (B) One disarticulated right dactyl 

 with broken tip having moderate-sized, worn, 

 proximal tooth. (C) One rather large, straight, 

 right propodal finger with sectorial teeth. 



USGS 25273. Fifteen foot (4.6m) vertical ex- 

 posure along S bank Mattiponi River, just below 

 White Oak Lodge at White Oak Landing (about 

 2.5 mi [4 km] E King William Courthouse) King 

 William Co., Va. Material collected "in situ" be- 

 tween 1 and 2.5 ft (30-76 cm) above beach level 

 in a blue gray, highly burrowed, sparsely fossil- 

 iferous, silty sand (devoid of mollusks) which 

 overlies a highly fossiliferous shell bed consisting 

 of abundant Turritella. "Virginia" St. Marys 

 Formation; Middle Miocene. Lauck W. Ward, 

 1961, on loan from Warren C. Blow, Paleontology 

 and Stratigraphy Branch, USGS. An immature 

 female Callinectes with triangular abdomen 

 (length about 23 mm from posterior edge of ex- 

 posed segment 3 to tip of telson) and broad ster- 

 nites, few remnants of carapace not coarsely 

 granulate. 



USGS 25274. White Oak Landing, about 2.5 mi 

 (4 km) E King William Courthouse, along S bank 

 Mattiponi River, King William Co., Va. Material 

 collected as "float" along 400 ft ( 120 m) ( + ) beach 

 between tributary just below landing proper and 



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