Afterward, the male continues to carry the female until her outer shell hardens again. By hiding in these beds of underwater grasses they can escape from large crabs and other predators.

Photo of the Week: En Garde! December 3, 2018. Acres of the Bay’s brilliant green eelgrass are disappearing, causing blue crab to move into red algae. This behavior is especially necessary toward successful propagation of the species since the female crab mates only once in her life. After about 12 to 18 months, a juvenile crab reaches maturity.
Carried by the currents and the tidal flow from the ocean, the megalopa drifts back into the Bay. Only two have to reach adulthood to give the Bay a steady-state population. Throughout their range crabs were also an effective bait type for hook and line fisheries. The eggs hatch into the first larval stage called the zoea. 45 0 obj <> endobj Juvenile crabs are tiny crabs that can swim or walk on the muddy bay bottom. PART OF WILD SKY MEDIA | FAMILY & PARENTING, Chesapeake Quarterly: Atlantic Blue Crab Life Cycle, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Chesapeake Bay Office: Blue Crab. She also wrote for the Pennsylvania Center for the Book's Literary Map while earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at the Pennsylvania State University. During winter, they move to the deeper waters where the temperature doesn’t fluctuate as much as in the shallow areas. Once mature, the crabs will add more variety to their diet, including worms, snails, clams, oysters, mussels and even smaller blue crabs. Young crabs finally look like adult blue crabs though they are small, measuring barely 1/100 of an inch wide. The rather short life span means the blue crab moves quickly through its life cycle. 82 0 obj <>stream July 2, 2018. Zoea then metamorphose into the megalops, a stage that lasts six to 20 days and is the last larval molt. Let’s take a closer look at the stages the life of the blue crab. They remain in the rivers and inlets of the Bay. While growing into the megalopa stage, the crabs drift back into the Chesapeake Bay, where they grow into juvenile crabs and, eventually, adults. The male partner carries the female into a protected area while she prepares for her final molt, or the shedding of her hard external shell. This crab inhabits all areas of the Chesapeake Bay, frequenting the shallow waters and grass beds in summer while hibernating in deeper trenches for winter. Blue crabs start their lives as tiny zoea, floating in the ocean waters. In addition to her work for Demand Media, her articles have been published online at CBS Local. h��[�nIv��\J�[�1 ��g���=p�p�j���j����x��ᅗ�o}Ή��d�[6dfT�x�x��͔&3��˄?�IS����ة�5�(�:��7��_�`@ �b�Ë�Q�,?~. A female will fertilize the eggs and can spawn them multiple times over a period of two to 12 months. © 2020 WILD SKY MEDIA. Mating season occurs from May through October. Chesapeake Quarterly, Maryland Sea Grant's quarterly magazine, reports on research, extension, education and other Chesapeake Bay issues and activities of interest to the marine community. h�bbd```b``�"[��t)�D2���s0�̶�:`�m`�X� �T�ܑ �!

There is the appearance of legs and front claws, though the animals still sport lobster-like tails. The juvenile stage marks the crab's return to the upper Chesapeake Bay and its rivers; males will journey farther north than females. All winter, the females have remained on the bottom of the Bay, most of them in the deepest water. The tiny larvae measure less than 1/1000 of an inch during the zoea stage. Be Her Village. In this phase, the crab is still too small and too weak to swim.

The blue crab’s life cycle is also closely related to its migration patterns. Mature female crabs migrate to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay to develop a brood of eggs. The rather short life span means the blue crab moves quickly through its life cycle. The blue crab’s life cycle is also closely related to … From Our Blog. Mature females produce egg masses (referred to as sponges) from May to October when the water temperature is warm and food is abundant for the newly hatched blue crab larvae. Zoea are too small to swim and simply float in the ocean waters where they feed on phytoplankton. This happens about 45 days after the initial hatching of the eggs. To understand the blue crab life cycle, we will follow a female blue crab from birth to reproduction. %PDF-1.6 %���� In each stage she is similar in appearance, but is slightly larger than in the last stage. The crabs bury themselves into the mud and slow down their metabolism for a period of hibernation.

%%EOF This sponge will darken in color as the larvae consume the orange yolk. The blue crab's activity begins in early spring, when the waters of the Chesapeake Bay warm and the crabs stir from their dormant state. As early as the 1600s, the blue crab was an important food item for Native Americans and European settlers in the Chesapeake Bay area. Crab Measuring Gauges for Dungeness & Blue Crabs, ➰ The Best Crab Lines for Traps, Pots & Trotlining, The Best Crabbing Gloves On The Market. The mature males have been buried in the sediments of the estuaries, and the juveniles have sheltered in shallow-water habitats. The megalopa looks a bit like a crossover between a crab and a lobster. The Maryland blue crab is an olive green crustacean known for its bright blue legs and sweet tasting meat. endstream endobj 46 0 obj <> endobj 47 0 obj <>/ExtGState<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Type/Page>> endobj 48 0 obj <>stream

Still tiny, the megalops has a whitish tint but starts to resemble a crab. Blue crabs start their lives as tiny zoea, floating in the ocean waters. After mating season, the males return to the creeks, rivers and estuaries of the upper Chesapeake Bay. After mating, the mature females migrate to the mouth of the Bay carrying her brood of eggs. The larvae are released from the mother within two weeks and make their way to the Atlantic ocean. While the males seek out another mate, the females migrate to saltier waters of the lower Chesapeake Bay and burrow in the mud. The crabs mate after she molts, and the female captures the sperm for later fertilization of the eggs. Juveniles can eat small fish, dead organisms and aquatic plants. This larval stage only lasts for about a week, at the end of which the megalopa molts into the first crab stage, a tiny juvenile crab. The blue crab starts her life as a larva, an early-life stage that looks completely different than her adult form.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. When the larvae reach a certain developmental stage the eggs break open and the larvae –now called zoea–are released into the water column. The zoea feed on plankton and molt up to eight times over 31 to 49 days as they continue to grow. Here in the Chesapeake, the blue crab's life cycle extends from the upper reaches of the Bay and its tributaries to the Atlantic Ocean. endstream endobj startxref h�b```a``���6� ��ea�x�0��)#������О{���Gp%H@��%����3�2�c�Ô���� �%.N�9��f�=\�m�,ַ�4#)i>��P~��X|/@D^ y� �

Empower Her. Pam Smith has been writing since 2005. Depending on the size of the female, female blue crabs carry and release 800,000 to 8,000,000 eggs. They will molt several more times before reaching maturity at 12 to 18 months of age. This crab inhabits all areas of the Chesapeake Bay, frequenting the shallow waters and grass beds in summer while hibernating in deeper trenches for winter. A zoea molts seven times before becoming a megalopa. The megalopa is a voracious eater and feeds mainly on the other zooplankton. They will hibernate throughout the winter–feeding only infrequently. While growing into the megalopa stage, the crabs drift back into the Chesapeake Bay, where they grow into juvenile crabs and, eventually, adults.

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