104 SEA-SHORE LIFE 



with nine blunt, smooth-edged teeth along each side of the front 

 edge. The claws are sharp but powerful. This is a crawling crab, 

 and all the legs end in a sharp spine, there being no paddle-like 

 swimming feet. The crab is closely related to the edible crab of 

 England and France but, while it is sold in our markets to a limited 

 extent, it is not highly esteemed. The shell grows to be three inches 

 long and five wide. The eggs are carried about by the female dur- 

 ing the summer and hatch as little spined larvte which swim at the 

 surface and soon moult and change into little creatures which 

 resemble the adults, excepting that the abdomen projects straight 

 out in a line with the shell instead of being folded under; and there 

 are short spines on the shell which are not seen in the adult. After 

 again moulting several times, the larva becomes a little rock crab. 

 The adult rock crabs moult in winter, and are then sold in the 

 New York market as soft-shelled crabs, although they are not to be 

 comj)ared with the more highly esteemed blue crab. 



The Jonah Crab, (Cancer horealis, Fig. 71), is closely related to 

 the rock crab, but can be distinguished by its rougher shell, and the 

 saw-edged teeth on its front edges. It becomes larger than the rock 

 crab, and ranges from the eastern end of Long Island to Nova Sco- 

 tia. It lives on rocky shores exposed to the wash of the breakers, 

 and does not hide away under stones as does the rock crab. 



The Oyster Crab, (Pinnotheres ostrenvi, Fig. 72). The 

 female of this crab lives, when mature, within the gill cavity of 

 the oyster, and is highly esteemed as a delicacy, being sold in 

 the markets at a higli price. In the female the 

 shell is pinkish-white in color and very thin, and 

 the legs so weak that the creature could not survive 

 away from the protecting oyster. The crab does 

 not devour the oyster, but merely lives in associ- 

 ation with it. The male crabs, however, swim 

 Fie: 72 ■ FEMALE freely over the sea, and they are brown in color with 

 oYSTEK CKAH. a, light colorcd central stripe, and four whitish 

 .ong sane ounc . ^p^^g They are smaller than the females, and 

 their shells are hard. The case of the oyster crab is interesting, for, 

 while the male has remained active, and has retained a hard shell 

 and strong claws and legs, the female has lived a protected life, and 

 her shell has degenerated into little more than a soft membrane, while 



