scholarly journals Factors Influencing Colonization and Survival of Juvenile Blue Crabs Callinectes sapidus in Southeastern U.S. Tidal Creeks

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 491
Author(s):  
Paul J. Rudershausen ◽  
Jeffery H. Merrell ◽  
Jeffrey A. Buckel
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Blue Crab ◽  
Detection Probability ◽  
Tidal Creek ◽  
Callinectes Sapidus ◽  
Blue Crabs ◽  
Tidal Creeks ◽  
Occupancy Dynamics ◽  
Factors Influencing

Tidal creeks along the southeastern U.S. and Gulf of Mexico coastlines provide nursery habitats for commercially and ecologically important nekton, including juvenile blue crabs Callinectes sapidus, a valuable and heavily landed seafood species. Instream and watershed urbanization may influence the habitat value that tidal creeks provide to blue crabs. We investigated natural and anthropogenic factors influencing juvenile blue crab occupancy dynamics in eight first-order tidal creeks in coastal North Carolina (USA). An auto-logistic hierarchical multi-season (dynamic) occupancy model with separate ecological and observation sub-models was fitted to juvenile blue crab presence/absence data collected over replicate sampling visits in multiple seasons at three fixed trapping sites in each creek. Colonization and survival are the processes operating on occupancy that are estimated with this formulation of the model. Covariates considered in the ecological sub-model included watershed imperviousness, the percent of salt marsh in each creek’s high tide area, percent salt marsh edge, site-level water depth, and site-level salinity. Temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen were covariates considered in the observation sub-model. In the ecological sub-model, watershed imperviousness was a meaningful negative covariate and site-level salinity was a positive covariate of survival probability. Imperviousness and salinity were each marginally meaningful on colonization probability. Water temperature was a positive covariate of detection probability in the observation sub-model. Mean estimated detection probability across all sites and seasons of the study was 0.186. The results suggest that development in tidal creek watersheds will impact occupancy dynamics of juvenile blue crabs. This places an emphasis on minimizing losses of natural land cover classes in tidal creek watersheds to reduce the negative impacts to populations of this important species. Future research should explore the relationship between imperviousness and salinity fluctuations in tidal creeks to better understand how changing land cover influences water chemistry and ultimately the demographics of juvenile blue crabs.

scholarly journals Effects of crude oil on survival and development in embryonated eggs in Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896 (Decapoda, Portunidae)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsie L. Kelly ◽  
Caz M. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Blue Crab ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Callinectes Sapidus ◽  
Deepwater Horizon ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spawning Season ◽  
Blue Crabs ◽  
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill ◽  
Important Species

Blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896, are ubiquitous along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. These organisms play an integral role in the ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), where not only are they a keystone species, but are also socioeconomically important. The survival of embryonated eggs is necessary to ensure adequate recruitment into the next generation. Because the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DWH) occurred during the peak of the blue crab spawning season, the incident likely impacted blue crab embryos. In order to assess the effect of oil on embryonic growth and development, we collected embryonated eggs from seven different female blue crabs from the GOM throughout the spawning season and exposed them to an oil concentration of 500 ppb (the approximate concentration of oil at the surface water near the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig). Exposure to oil at this concentration caused a significantly larger proportion of prezoeae versus zoeae to hatch from embryonated eggs in experiments lasting longer than 4 days. Exposure to oil did not significantly affect overall survival or development rate. The prezoeal stage is a little-studied stage of blue crab development. Though it may or may not be a normal stage of development, this stage has been found to occur in suboptimal conditions and has lower survival than zoeal stages. The larger proportion of prezoeae following prolonged exposure to oil thus indicates that crude oil at concentrations likely to be experienced by crabs after the DWH spill negatively impacted the development of blue crab embryos. In addition to providing insight into the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, this study sheds light on embryonic development in blue crabs, a critical, but poorly investigated phase of this important species’ life cycle.

scholarly journals The return of the Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896, after 70 years from its first appearance in the Gulf of Trieste, northern Adriatic Sea, Italy (Decapoda: Portunidae)

Check List ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Manfrin ◽  
Giovanni Comisso ◽  
Andrea Dall’Asta ◽  
Nicola Bettoso ◽  
J. Sook Chung
Keyword(s):  
Blue Crab ◽  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Callinectes Sapidus ◽  
First Record ◽  
Blue Crabs ◽  
Northern Adriatic Sea ◽  
Northern Adriatic ◽  
Gulf Of Trieste

Since August 2015, an increasing number of Blue Crabs, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896, have been reported in the Marano and Grado Lagoon, Gulf of Trieste, in the northern Adriatic Sea. This species is not a new introduction and in fact the first record of C. sapidus in Italy and the entire Adriatic Sea dates back to 1949 in the Grado Lagoon. Interestingly, no other records of C. sapidus have been reported since the first record. Here, we note the re-appearance of C. sapidus in the Gulf of Trieste.

scholarly journals Can Microplastics Influence the Accumulation of Pb in Tissues of Blue Crab?

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 3599
Author(s):  
Paula Munuera ◽  
Inmaculada Salvat-Leal ◽  
Antonio Belmonte ◽  
Diego Romero
Keyword(s):  
Blue Crab ◽  
Muscle Tissue ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Soft Tissues ◽  
Callinectes Sapidus ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
Blue Crabs ◽  
Pb Contamination ◽  
San Pedro ◽  
Different Levels

The study of microplastics (MPs) and associated pollutants is essential for a better understanding of some of the factors that threaten marine ecosystems. The main objective of this study was thus to assess Pb distribution and accumulation in the tissues of blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) exposed to MPs. Blue crabs were collected from the mouth of the river Segura (Guardamar, Spain) and fed on mussels from two Mediterranean areas with different levels of Pb contamination: Portmán Bay and San Pedro del Pinatar (Murcia, Spain). In addition, a batch of each group were exposed to MPs. After seven days of exposure, the crabs were euthanised, and tissues and faeces were analysed. The hepatopancreas was found to be the best tissue for measuring Pb concentrations after feeding; muscle tissue did not provide information on environmental quality. The meat (muscle) consumption of blue crabs from zones with high Pb content does not seem to constitute a risk for consumers, although the risk is not totally negated if all soft tissues are ingested. The presence of MPs in the water does not seem to increase the accumulation of Pb in these tissues of C. sapidus.

scholarly journals Population level differences in overwintering survivorship of blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus): A caution on extrapolating climate sensitivities along latitudinal gradients

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257569
Author(s):  
Adelle I. Molina ◽  
Robert M. Cerrato ◽  
Janet A. Nye
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Blue Crab ◽  
Failure Time ◽  
Callinectes Sapidus ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Latitudinal Gradients ◽  
Winter Mortality ◽  
Blue Crabs ◽  
Range Edge

Winter mortality can strongly affect the population dynamics of blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) near poleward range limits. We simulated winter in the lab to test the effects of temperature, salinity, and estuary of origin on blue crab winter mortality over three years using a broad range of crab sizes from both Great South Bay and Chesapeake Bay. We fit accelerated failure time models to our data and to data from prior blue crab winter mortality experiments, illustrating that, in a widely distributed, commercially valuable marine decapod, temperature, salinity, size, estuary of origin, and winter duration were important predictors of winter mortality. Furthermore, our results suggest that extrapolation of a Chesapeake Bay based survivorship model to crabs from New York estuaries yielded poor fits. As such, the severity and duration of winter can impact northern blue crab populations differently along latitudinal gradients. In the context of climate change, future warming could possibility confer a benefit to crab populations near the range edge that are currently limited by temperature-induced winter mortality by shifting their range edge poleward, but care must be taken in generalizing from models that are developed based on populations from one part of the range to populations near the edges, especially for species that occupy large geographical areas.

In vitro culture and developmental cycle of the parasitic dinoflagellate Hematodinium sp. from the blue crab Callinectes sapidus

Parasitology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 138 (14) ◽  
pp. 1924-1934 ◽  
Author(s):  
CAIWEN LI ◽  
TERRENCE L. MILLER ◽  
HAMISH J. SMALL ◽  
JEFFREY D. SHIELDS
Keyword(s):  
Blue Crab ◽  
Callinectes Sapidus ◽  
Developmental Cycle ◽  
Blue Crabs ◽  
Marine Crustacean ◽  
The Usa ◽  
New Hosts ◽  
Parasitic Dinoflagellates ◽  
Eastern Seaboard

SUMMARYHematodinium is a genus of parasitic dinoflagellates whose species have caused significant mortalities in marine crustacean fisheries worldwide. A species of Hematodinium infects the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus on the eastern seaboard of the USA. The mode of transmission of the parasite in blue crabs is unknown. We established several continuous in vitro cultures of Hematodinium sp. isolated from the haemolymph of infected blue crabs. One isolate has been continuously maintained in our laboratory through serial subcultivation for over 12 months, and is capable of infecting new hosts when inoculated into healthy crabs. Cells of the parasite undergo characteristic developmental changes in vitro consistent with the identifiable stages of Hematodinium sp.: filamentous trophonts, amoeboid trophonts, arachnoid trophonts and sporonts, sporoblasts, prespores and dinospores (macrospores and microspores). Additionally, we describe an unusual shunt in the life cycle wherein presumptive schizonts derived from arachnoid sporonts developed into filamentous and arachnoid trophonts that can then initiate arachnoid sporonts in new cultures. This may explain the rapid proliferation of the parasite in blue crab hosts. We also found that temperature and light intensity affected the growth and development of the parasite in vitro.

scholarly journals Effects of crude oil on survival and development in embryonated eggs in Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896 (Decapoda, Portunidae)

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5985 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsie L. Kelly ◽  
Caz M. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Blue Crab ◽  
Prolonged Exposure ◽  
Callinectes Sapidus ◽  
Keystone Species ◽  
Deepwater Horizon ◽  
Spawning Season ◽  
Blue Crabs ◽  
Important Species ◽  
Stage Of Development

Blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896, are ubiquitous along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the USA. These organisms play an integral role in the ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), where not only are they a keystone species, but are also socioeconomically important. The survival of embryonated eggs is necessary to ensure adequate recruitment into the next generation. Because the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DWH) occurred during the peak of the blue crab spawning season, the incident likely impacted blue crab embryos. In order to assess the effect of oil on embryonic growth and development, we collected embryonated eggs from seven different female blue crabs from the GOM throughout the spawning season and exposed them to an oil concentration of 500 ppb (the approximate concentration of oil at the surface water near the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig). Exposure to oil at this concentration caused a significantly larger proportion of prezoeae vs. zoeae to hatch from embryonated eggs in experiments lasting longer than 4 days. Exposure to oil did not significantly affect overall survival or development rate. The prezoeal stage is a little-studied stage of blue crab development. Though it may or may not be a normal stage of development, this stage has been found to occur in suboptimal conditions and has lower survival than zoeal stages. The larger proportion of prezoeae following prolonged exposure to oil thus indicates that crude oil at concentrations likely to be experienced by crabs after the DWH spill negatively impacted the development of blue crab embryos. In addition to providing insight into the effects of the DWH, this study sheds light on embryonic development in blue crabs, a critical, but poorly investigated phase of this important species’ life cycle.

scholarly journals First record of the blue crab Callinectes sapidus (Crustacea, Decapoda, Portunidae), a non-indigenous species in the central/southern Tyrrhenian Sea

2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-106
Author(s):  
Carlo Pipitone ◽  
Arturo Zenone ◽  
Fabio Badalamenti ◽  
Giovanni D'Anna
Keyword(s):  
Blue Crab ◽  
Callinectes Sapidus ◽  
First Record ◽  
Shallow Waters ◽  
Indigenous Species ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Blue Crabs ◽  
Sandy Bottom ◽  
Southern Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Non Indigenous Species

Four individuals of the non-indigenous blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Portunidae) were collected during commercial trammel net operations in fall 2019 and winter 2020 along the coast of NW Sicily. The crabs were collected in very shallow waters on a sandy bottom close to the coast. Although blue crabs are now widespread along most eastern, western and northern Mediterranean coasts, this is the first record of this species from the central and southern Tyrrhenian Sea

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