The topics of growth, reproduction, and characteristics will also be covered.

Blue crabs come from the family Portunidae a group of animals having jointed legs, segmented body, and a hard outer shell. (Capossela, 1990) It is a crustacean as are lobsters and shrimps. This crab stays in water although it could survive shortly out of it.

The growth of blue crabs is slowed in areas of high salinity. In the waters of average salinity, male crabs may grow to seven-nine inches. Females seldom make it past six. They can live an average of 2-2 1/2 years, although some make it to four years of age. The crab has to shed his hard shell in order to grow. It sometimes has to do this 25-30 times in his life, for about two days each. At this time the crab is called a "softshell." (Capossela, 1990) Small crabs shed every 3-5 days.

The blue crab occurs along the Atlantic Coast from Cape Cod south to Florida and around the Golf of Mexico to the Mississippi, and next to the lobster is our most valuable food crustacean being highly valued for its edible qualities. It is also known as the hard-shell or soft-shell crab, suitable for the market not only when the shell is hard but also immediately after molting before the new shell has hardened (Headstorm, 1985).

Between late spring and late summer, the abdomen of a mature female crab

Adair 2

will bulge with an egg mass of about 700,000 to two million eggs. The mass gradually turns from bright orange to yellow or brownish and then to blackish as they consume the individual egg yolks. The female at this time is called a "sponge crab," and must be returned in some states. (Bower, 1994) When the eggs hatch, they're very small and become part of a planktonic mass. At this stage they are called zoea larvae, and they look more like shrimp than crabs. During the first months of existence, they pass into a post larval stage, or megalops (where only a few million reach maturity.) After that, they begin to take on the shape of sdult crabs. Some crabs are swept in a group out in to the ocean, but those that make ir back into the estuary make their way to fresher water.

Blue crabs dig into the mud in winter where they lay semidormant from early December to la