The Blue Crab: Callinectes Sapidus

An essential resource for researchers, students, and managers, this book is the first comprehensive reference work on the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. The blue crab is a significant U.S. commercial and recreational species from the Mid-Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico. In Chesapeake Bay, the nation's largest estuary, the blue crab has become a regional symbol, as well as the Bay's most profitable seafood product. During recent years, controversies have arisen over the status of blue crab stocks and how best to manage them. A clear synthesis of scientific information detailing the blue crab's biology and ecology will greatly augment our baseline knowledge about this important crustacean. Well-known marine biologists Victor Kennedy and the late Eugene Cronin edited the volume and assembled scientists who are leaders in their respective fields of blue crab study across the United States and beyond to provide this first comprehensive overview of the science surrounding the blue crab. Kennedy was the lead editor of The Eastern Oyster: Crassostrea virginica, the most comprehensive compilation of current scientific knowledge about the Eastern oyster. The new book, The Blue Crab: Callinectes sapidus, includes chapters on systematics; anatomy of larval, juvenile, and adult stages; molting and growth; reproduction; diseases and parasites; physiology; ecology of all life history stages; history of blue crab fisheries in the U.S.; and population dynamics. It is the first treatment of such breadth on any major crab species.