Tag Archives: crabs

Maryland’s Blue Crabs and Their Harvesters Face a Challenging Season

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Annapolis, Maryland – Two species are in jeopardy within the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

This season, the surveys for legendary crustaceans reached one of the lowest levels ever recorded. This has driven up prices at restaurants as disposable income tightened and inflation increased costs for food and other consumer items.

Luke McFadden, 29, who has been crabbing since he was 18, mentioned that the season got off to a tough start.

“We’re doing our best to serve our customers at the lowest price possible to cover our expenses,” he remarked. “But I get it; it’s not easy.”

Krabal Luke McFadden.
Cesar Gonzalez / NBC News

At a family-owned crab house, Pit Boys, Seafood Manager Charlie George indicated that customer prices range from $75 to $140 based on size. This is “much higher” than previous years due to the shortage of crabs in the bay.

According to the 2025 Blue Crab Advisory Report, the overall blue crab population has declined to approximately 238 million, down from 317 million last year. This marks the second lowest level since the annual winter dredge survey commenced in 1990.

Alison Colden, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, attributes the decline to pollution, climate change, and the encroachment of invasive blue catfish throughout the Chesapeake Bay. These catfish were introduced in the 1970s and 1980s to enhance recreational fishing.

“Since then, they’ve proliferated across nearly every river and stream in the Chesapeake Bay region,” Colden remarked. “They are voracious predators.”

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Fossils of Giant Crabs Discovered in New Zealand

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Paleontologists have described a new species of crab genus false calcinus A large fossil specimen discovered in Taranaki, North Island, New Zealand.

Pseudocarcinus karlaubenheimeri. Scale bar – 5 cm. Image credit: Barry WM van Bakel & Àlex Ossó, doi: 10.1080/00288306.2024.2314472.

false calcinus It is a monotypic genus of the Crabidae family. Menippiidae.

Among them is a very large species called. Tasmanian giant crab (Pseudocalcinus gigas).

Also known as the giant southern crab, it lives on rocky and muddy bottoms off the coast of southern Australia.

“Alive 'Southern Giant Crab'” Pseudocalcinus gigas “It ranks among the largest crabs that have ever lived,” said Utrecht University paleontologist Barry van Bekel and colleague Alex Osso.

“This bird is now endemic to the cool-temperate South Australian continental margin, although there is one record of a female being caught off the coast of New Zealand's South Island.”

“Scientists recognized and described the unique set of morphological characters of this monotypic genus and constructed a corresponding new family and superfamily.”

“Unfortunately, the geological history of this remarkable group of crabs is largely unknown.”

named Pseudocarcinus karlaubenheimeria new member of this genus lived in New Zealand about 8.8 million years ago (Miocene epoch).

Six specimens of this species were collected from Waitoetoe Beach. Urenui formation The Taranaki Basin is home to a series of volcanoes. Mojakatino Volcano Center It erupted offshore, leading to the formation of a specific paleoenvironment.

“this is, false calcinus It lived in what is now New Zealand,” the researchers said.

According to the team: false calcinus Males have one normal-sized claw and one extra-large claw.

“In modern oceans, crabs have larger absolute claw sizes in temperate regions than in tropical regions, but in temperate oceans their claws are smaller relative to their body size.”

“The Miocene of New Zealand was home to two species of giant crabs with the largest known crushing claws. Thumidocarcinus giganteus and Pseudocarcinus karlaubenheimeri”

“Clearly, food sources, metabolic conditions and calcium carbonate availability were favorable to these species.”

“Thumidocalcinus Extinct by the end of the Miocene. false calcinus It is currently only known from Australian waters. ”

team's paper Published in New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics.

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Barry W. M. van Bekel and Alex Osso. A new “Southern Giant Crab'' discovered in a Miocene continental slope paleoenvironment in Taranaki, North Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, published online on February 27, 2024. doi: 10.1080/00288306.2024.2314472

Source: www.sci.news