Blue Crab

There's nothing more “Chesapeake” than the Bay's signature crustacean, the blue crab. Callinectes (“beautiful swimmer”) sapidus (“savory”), a member of the swimming crab family, is an aggressive, bottom-dwelling predator and one of the most recognizable species in the Bay.

How Are Blue Crabs Important?

As both predator and prey, blue crabs are a keystone species in the Chesapeake Bay food web. Blue crabs also make up the most productive commercial and recreational fisheries in the Bay.

Blue Crabs Are an Integral Link in the Bay Food Web

Blue crabs serve as both predator and prey in the Bay's food web.

• Blue crabs are prey for fish, birds — even other blue crabs! Soft-shelled crabs that have recently molted are especially vulnerable to predators.
• Predatory fish like striped bass, as well as drums, eels, catfish, cownose rays and some sharks, rely on juvenile blue crabs as part of their diet.
• Blue crab larvae are part of the planktonic community and are fed on by filter feeders such as oysters, menhaden, bay anchovies and juveniles of other fish species.
• Bottom-dwelling blue crabs are among the chief consumers of the benthos. They feed on thin-shelled bivalves, other crustaceans, fish, marine worms, plants, detritus and nearly anything else they can find.
• Blue crabs enhance salt marsh communities by feeding on marsh periwinkles.

Blue Crabs Are Economically Important

During the past 60 years, blue crabs — along with Atlantic menhaden — have dominated the Chesapeake Bay's commercial fisheries.

• It is estimated that more than one-third of the nation's catch of blue crabs come from the Chesapeake Bay.
• Blue crabs have the highest value of any Chesapeake Bay commercial fishery. The Bay's commercial blue crab harvest in 2000 was valued at approximately $55 million.

Blue crabs also support a major recreational fishery in the Bay.

How Many Blue Crabs Live in the Chesapeake Bay?

Chesapeake Bay scientists use the annual Bay-wide winter dredge survey as their main tool to estimate how many blue crabs are living in the Bay. According to the 2009 winter dredge survey, which took place just before the start of the 2009 commercial crab season, 418 million crabs are estimated to be living in the Chesapeake Bay.

The winter dredge survey also estimates the number of adult (age 1 or older) blue crabs in the Bay. In 2009, 223 million adults blue crabs were estimated to be living in the Bay. This is a 70 percent increase from 131 million adult crabs in 2008 and the first time since 1993 that adult blue crab abundance exceeded the interim goal of 200 million crabs. However, the number of juvenile (less than one year old) blue crabs was 179 million, still well below the historical average of 259 million juvenile crabs.