648 



HISTORY AND .METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



ti. STATISTICAL RECAPITULATION OF THE BLUE CRAB FISHERY IN 1880. 



The quantify and value of T>lne cralis (Callinectes luistatux) taken and sold on thu Atlantic and 0'/ Coasts of the United 



State* during 1>-80. 



THE MINOK CRAR FISHERIES. 

 7. THE FIDDLER CRAB, OYSTER CRAB, STONE CRAB, AND OTHER MINOR SPECIES. 



THE FIDDLER CRABS. The three species of fiddler crabs (Gelasimus pugnax, G.pugilator, and 

 O. minax), which occur abundantly along the eastern and southern coasts of the United States, 

 from southern New England to Mexico, preferring salt and brackish-water marshes, muddy aud 

 sandy flats, and sheltered beaches, are occasionally used as bait, aud are also, in a few localities, 

 regarded as edible. On the southern New England coast, they are esteemed as bait for the tautog 

 and other species of fish, and in the vicinity of Charleston, S. 0., for the sheepshead. They are 

 rarely eaten, but are said to be sometimes used in making soups. One species, which lives in the 

 Lower Mississippi River, is stated to have occasioned some damage to the levees, into which it 

 constructs its burrows, along with a species of crayfish. 



THE OYSTER CRAB. The little oyster crab (Pinnotheres ostreum, Say), so familiar to all con- 

 sumers of fresh oysters, is, notwithstanding its small size, of some economic importance. It occurs 

 more or less abundantly in nearly all supplies of oysters, and is generally eaten along with the 

 bivalve, with which it is associated as a messmate. In the canneries aud restaurants, where large 

 numbers of oysters are constantly being opened, the crabs are frequently saved apart and either 

 sold fresh or pickled for the trade. The pickling of these crabs, in some localities, as in Fulton 

 market, New York, assumes the character of a regular business, and they are put up in glass jars 

 like pickled oysters. Prepared in this manner, they are often offered for sale in the larger cities, 

 and especially in New York. The difficulty of collecting together so many small creatures renders 

 their cost somewhat high. 



The oyster crab has long been famous as a tempting morsel, aud its original describe,! 1 , Say, 

 remarks concerning it, as long ago as 1817, that, " where the fresh oyster is opened in consider- 

 able numbers, the crabs are often collected and served apart for the palate of the luxurious." It 

 is the female alone that is eaten, the male never living, so far as is known, within the oyster 

 shells, but occurring occasionally as a free-swimmer at the surface of the sea. The male also has 

 a thicker shell than the female, and would not, therefore, be regarded as equally palatable. 



A closely related species, called the mussel crab (Pinnotheres maculatus), lives as a messmate 



