| Callinectes similis | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
| Infraorder: | Brachyura |
| Family: | Portunidae |
| Genus: | Callinectes |
| Species: | C. similis |
| Binomial name | |
| Callinectes similis | |
Callinectes similis, sometimes called the lesser blue crab [1] or dwarf crab, [2] is a West Atlantic species of blue crab. It was described by Austin B. Williams in 1966.
Callinectes similis is a good swimmer, and its last pereiopods are expanded to paddles with which it swims. Adult males may grow up to a width of 122 millimetres (4.8 in), while females may reach 95 mm (3.7 in). [3]
Callinectes similis is most closely related to Callinectes danae , [4] a species also found in the Gulf of Mexico, but whose range extends as far south as Rio Grande do Sul, [5] and C. ornatus , a species found from North Carolina to Rio Grande do Sul. [6] C. similis is most easily separated from C. danae and C. ornatus by the form of the first and second pleopods in males. [7] It can be told apart from the more distantly related C. sapidus by the number of teeth on the front edge of the carapace, there being six in C. similis and only four in C. sapidus. [7]
Callinectes similis is found in the Western Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico from the United States to Colombia. It reaches its northern limit near Delaware Bay. [3] There has been considerable confusion between the various species of Callinectes , and it now appears that all individuals reported as C. danae and C. ornatus from the Gulf of Mexico (with the exception of parts of Florida) are actually C. similis. [7]
Callinectes similis lives in marshes and estuaries, being the dominant crab in open bays. The species is limited to salinities of at least 15‰, and temperature may also affect reproduction. [3]
The diet of C. similis consists of a variety of foodstuffs, including plants, fish, polychaetes, other crustaceans including Farfantepenaeus aztecus and Portunus gibbesii , molluscs such as Mulinia lateralis , and detritus. [2]
Spawning takes place in the spring and fall, with females returning to estuaries to release their eggs. [3] Ovigerous (egg-carrying) females carry an average of more than 250,000 eggs. [2]
Although it is not usually targeted because of its relatively small size, C. similis is sometimes caught alongside C. sapidus. [3]
Archosargus probatocephalus, the sheepshead, sheepshead seabream or convict fish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Sparidae, the seabreams and porgies. This species is found in the Western Atlantic Ocean. The sheepshead is an important species to recreational and commercial fisheries.
Callinectes sapidus, the blue crab, Atlantic blue crab, or, reigonally, the Maryland blue crab, is a species of crab native to the waters of the western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and introduced internationally.
Callinectes is a genus of crabs, containing 16 extant species, including the Atlantic blue crab, C. sapidus:
The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) is a United States 2,650-acre (10.7 km2) environmental research and educational facility operated by the Smithsonian Institution. It is located on the Rhode and West Rivers near Edgewater in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, near the western shore of Chesapeake Bay. The center's focus of study is the ecosystems of coastal zones, particularly in the Chesapeake Bay estuary and nearby wetlands.
Portunus pelagicus, also known as the blue crab, blue swimmer crab, blue manna crab and flower crab is a species of large crab found in the Indo-Pacific, including off the coasts Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam; and in the intertidal estuaries around most of Australia and east to New Caledonia.
Portunidae is a family of crabs which contains the swimming crabs. Its members include many well-known shoreline crabs, such as the blue crab and velvet crab. Two genera in the family are contrastingly named Scylla and Charybdis; the former contains the economically important species black crab and Scylla paramamosain.
Hematodinium perezi is a pathogenic dinoflagellate parasite that infects crustaceans, including the Blue Crab and Norway Lobster and has been observed to have a significant impact on crustacean fisheries. Infected crustaceans frequently show signs of weakness and lethargy, and often die due to stress-related handling from fishing as well as metabolic exhaustion due to reduced feeding. This parasite is known to be quite transmissible between various crustacean hosts.
Callinectes marginatus, commonly known as the sharptooth swimcrab or marbled swimcrab, is a species of swimming crab in the family Portunidae.
Callinectes ornatus is a species of swimming crab in the genus Callinectes. It can be distinguished from the closely related Atlantic blue crab by the presence of six frontal teeth on the carapace, compared with only four for C. sapidus. C. ornatus is also smaller, at a maximum carapace width of only 93 millimetres (3.7 in), compared to 230 mm (9.1 in) in C. sapidus, and is therefore not commercially exploited.
The Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) is a private, nonprofit organization created in 1971. At that time, the members of two regionally based organizations, the Atlantic Estuarine Research Society (AERS) and the New England Estuarine Research Society (NEERS) recognized the need for a third estuarine organization that would address national estuarine and coastal issues. Today, CERF is a multidisciplinary federation of members and seven regionally-based Affiliate Societies dedicated to the understanding and wise stewardship of estuaries and coasts worldwide.
Hematodinium is a genus of dinoflagellates. Species in this genus, such as Hematodinium perezi, the type species, are internal parasites of the hemolymph of crustaceans such as the Atlantic blue crab and Norway lobster. Species in the genus are economically damaging to commercial crab fisheries, including causing bitter crab disease in the large Tanner or snow crab fisheries of the Bering Sea.
Dyspanopeus sayi is a species of mud crab that is native to the Atlantic coast of North America. It has also become established outside its native range, living in Swansea Docks since 1960, the Mediterranean Sea since the 1970s, the North Sea since 2007 and the Black Sea since 2010. It can reach a carapace width of 20 mm (0.8 in), and has black tips to its unequal claws. It feeds on bivalves and barnacles, and is in turn eaten by predators including the Atlantic blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. Eggs are produced from spring to autumn, the offspring reach sexual maturity the following summer, and individuals can live for up to two years. The closest relative of D. sayi is D. texanus, which lives in the Gulf of Mexico; the two species differ in subtle features of the genitalia and the last pair of walking legs.
Luidia senegalensis, the nine-armed sea star, is a tropical species of starfish in the family Luidiidae found in the western Atlantic Ocean.
Chaceon quinquedens, commonly known as the red deep-sea crab, but sold as Atlantic deep sea red crab, or simply Atlantic red crab or red crab, is a crab that lives in the Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast of the United States and Canada, from North Carolina to Nova Scotia, and in the Gulf of Mexico.
Panopeus lacustris, the knot-fingered mud crab, is a true crab belonging to the infraorder Brachyura. It can be distinguished from related species by its exceptionally broad and knobbly main chela (claw).
Eurypanopeus depressus, the flatback mud crab or depressed mud crab, is a true crab belonging to the infraorder Brachyura and the family Panopeidae. It is native to the western Atlantic Ocean and is often found in estuaries and lagoons, commonly living in close association with oysters.
Octopus maya, known colloquially as the Mexican four-eyed octopus, is a shallow water octopus that can be found in the tropical Western Atlantic Ocean. It is common to sea grass prairies and coral formations. The species was initially discovered in an octopus fishery in Campeche Mexico, where its close external resemblance to Octopus vulgaris led to its mistaken grouping with the other species. O. maya makes up 80% of octopus catch in the Yucatán Peninsula, while O. vulgaris makes up the remaining 20%.
Phyllis Truth Johnson is an American parasitologist, virologist, and marine biologist.
Myzobdella lugubris, the crab leech, is a species of jawless leech widespread in North America, especially in central and Eastern Canada. It is an ectoparasite of fish and crustaceans, and is responsible for several dangerous conditions in fish, including lesions infected by bacteria and fungi and possibly viral hemorrhagic septicemia. It lays its egg capsules on crabs and possible other arthropods, which then disperse the eggs.