266 THE WEALTH OF THE SEA 



past fifty years. Until about 1875, crabs were seldom 

 seen in any fish market except those in the cities along 

 the coast. Even in these markets, crabs were not 

 important items of trade. From that time until 1915 

 the fishery grew rapidly. In that year the production 

 reached fifty million pounds; from this peak the 

 catch has diminished until now it is only about half 

 that figure. 



The crab industry of the Atlantic coast is located 

 chiefly in the Chesapeake Bay. The village of Cris- 

 field, Maryland, is the center of the soft-crab in- 

 dustry. Although only a town of four thousand in- 

 habitants it possesses a very important crab and 

 oyster industry and wholesale fish business, with more 

 than fifty dealers in crabs and crab meat located 

 here. Crabs, oysters, and fish taken in this part of 

 the bay are brought to Crisfield for shipment to 

 Baltimore, Norfolk, Philadelphia, and New York. 

 Few other towns are so dependent upon the fishing 

 industry. Some crabs are also caught on the Pacific 

 coast, but the industry there is not of great impor- 

 tance except in Washington. 



The blue crab, Collinectes sapidus, is the im- 

 portant crab of the Atlantic coast. A different 

 species, Caricer magister, is the common crab on the 

 Pacific side. This crab is exceedingly abundant on 

 the Alaskan coast, but the fishery has not been devel- 

 oped to an important extent, chiefly because of the 

 great distance from the markets. 



Crabs are very interesting crustaceans. They are 

 hatched from very small eggs, which are only about 

 one one-hundredth of an inch in diameter, not as 



