54 



FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1908. 



i Less than $100. 



Crabs. Crabs are decapod crustaceans, found 

 along all the coasts of the United States. The differ- 

 ent species vary much in size, habit, and use, and are 

 distinguished by the adjectives "blue," "fiddler," 

 "green," "hermit," "Jonah," "kelp," "lady," 

 "mud," "oyster," "red," "rock," "sand," "sea," 

 "soldier," "spider," "stone," etc. The common 

 edible crab has names applied by the catchers, de- 

 scribing the different conditions of the shell. While 

 shedding they are known as "comer," "buster," 

 "peeler," and "shedder;" while growing a new shell, 

 as "soft-shell," "paper-shell," and "buckler." 



Crabs are used for food, bait, and fertilizer. King 

 crabs are sold for the latter purpose and the product 

 is known as "cancerine." 



Although for the purposes of this report crabs are 

 divided into only five classes, a number of varieties 

 were taken, most of which are included under "hard 

 crabs" or "soft crabs." The most important species 



2 All the cod product of this division was salted. 



included under these heads are the blue crab of the 

 Atlantic coast and the Pacific coast crabs. The 

 terms "hard" and "soft" are applied to crabs to 

 designate the condition of the shell rather than to 

 differentiate species. The common blue crab of the 

 Atlantic coast sheds its shell several times annually, 

 and since commercially only two stages are recognized, 

 it may be classed as either "hard" or "soft." No 

 soft crabs were reported from the Pacific coast. In 

 addition to the hard and soft varieties, those shown 

 separately here are the "king crab," "spider crab," 

 and "stone crab." 



The crab product in 1908, comprising hard, soft, 

 king, spider, and stone crabs, aggregated 60,626,000 

 pounds, and had a value of $938,000. The following 

 tabular statement shows the distribution of the quan- 

 tity and the value of the hard and soft crab product, 

 as reported for 1908, for groups of states: 



HARD AND SOFT CRAB PRODUCT: 1908. 



The statistics of the crab product for 1908, by states 

 and varieties, are given in the next table. 



The Virginia fisheries supplied more than one-half 

 of the total quantity of hard crabs and the Maryland 

 fisheries considerably more than one-fourth. In the 

 soft-crab output Virginia and Maryland again took 



the lead, but the order is reversed, Maryland reporting 

 three-fourths of the total weight and Virginia one- 

 fifth. No soft crabs whatever were reported from the 

 Pacific coast states. The combined weight of hard and 

 soft crabs was 52,913,000 pounds and the combined 

 value $912,000. When the two varieties are thus 



