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THE BLUE CRAB IN NORTH CAROLINA 



BY John C. Pearson 



U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service 



HISTORY 



The edible crab, CalUnectes sapidns (Rathbun) of the Atlantic and Gulf 

 coasts of the United States was first observed in North Carolina waters in 

 1588 by that historian of the Roanoke Colony, Thomas Hariot, who noted: 

 "There are also in many places plenty ... of sea crabs, such as we have in 

 England." During the brief life of the Lost Colony, John White, a prom- 

 inent leader in the English settlement, portrayed in color the blue crab along 

 with some dozen fish and shellfish found in the shallow waters of Croatan 

 Sound. 



Over a century later, in 17 14, John Lawson, a chronicler of colonial North 

 Carolina, remarked: 



"The smaller flat crabs I look upon to be the sweetest of all the species. 

 They are the breadth of a lusty man's hand, or rather larger. These are 

 innumerable, lying in most prodigious quantities all over the salts of Caro- 

 lina. They are taken not only to eat, but are the best bait for all sorts of fish 

 that live in the salt water. These fish (crabs) are mischievous to night hooks 

 because they get away all the bait from the hooks." 



Later, in 1737, John Brickell brought out a natural history of the State — 

 a description of natural resources to large degree copied verbatim from John 

 Lawson — and called attention to the soft-shelled crab. He unwittingly 



20s 



