Pictures from blue crab.com
Classification: The Blue Crab belongs to family cancridae, it includes the Lady crab (Ovalipes ocellatus) Green crab (Carcinides maenas) and the Rock crab. They are all of the Phylum Arthropoda, Class Crustacea, Subclass Malacostraca, Order Decapoda and Genus and Species Cancer Pagurus. They are found off the Atlantic Coast. They are mostly marine. They are said to be some 25,000 species.
Appearance:
The Blue Crab appearance is blue. They can have hard or soft shell. They have
stalked eyes, a pair of mandibles, two pairs of maxillae. Three pairs of maxillipedes,
and five pairs of thoracic legs. They usually have more than one of the gills.
Range: The range of the blue crabs along the Atlantic Coast from Cape Cod, south to Florida and around the Gulf of Mexico to the Mississippi.
Habitat: The species are mostly aquatic, occurring in both fresh and in salt water. It is a good source of food for man. They can be eaten anytime of the year.
Prey:
There food consist of both live and dead plants and animals, much of it
being microscopic size.
This
angle shows the female's abdomen open with the male impregnating her, in
the picture to the side. The appearance of the crab is shown above.
Reproduction: Unisexual. Mating occurs from May through October. The sexes are separate in most species, and the eggs are typically attached to the abdominal appendages of the females until hatching. The fertilized female produces approximately 2 million larvae. The tiny microscopic larvae, called a "zoea" are swept out into the ocean where they go through a number of stages before they even resemble a crab. The whole surface of the body is enclosed in an exoskeleton which the crab must shed in order to grow.The process is called molting. Crabs have a point in there lives where they stop mating. When an immature female ( called a Sally ) molts for the last time in her life, she becomes fully mature ( called a Sook) and her abdomen turns into its classic bell shape.
Behavior: Crabs run away when they are scared or being harassed. They use there claws to protect them from predators.
Venomous: The blue crabs are not poisonous or venomous. They are a good source of food.
Blue Crab Diseases: The name
of the disease is "Pepper Spot" Disease. The meat of an infected crab appears
to be peppered with small dark spots which indicate that it is infected with
harmless parasites ( called "buckshot" or " pepper crabs" by some water men).
Although its appearance may be unappetizing, they are completely safe to eat
once cooked. To be more specific, the crab contains the microphillid fluke,
which have been hyperparasitized by a haplosporidan protozoan.
"Pepper
Spot Disease"
Bibliography
1. Headstrom,
Richard. 1979. All about Lobsters, Crabs, and their Relatives.
2. Blue Crabs
www.dogpile.com
3. Blue Crabs
www.bluecrabs.com
4. animated
crab
http://bluecrab.richmond.edu/crab_links.htm