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Blue crab escaping from the net along the Core Banks of North Carolina.. Callinectes sapidus (from the Ancient Greek κάλλος,"beautiful" + nectes, "swimmer", and Latin sapidus, "savory"), the blue crab, Atlantic blue crab, or, regionally, 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.
The oldest known true crabs are Eoprosopon klugi and Eocarcinus praecursor from the Early to Middle Jurassic. [5] [6] While that fossil crab, and a few other Jurassic species, establish that crabs existed in older time periods, crabs did not truly diversify into numerous species until the beginning of the Cretaceous. [3]
The order is estimated to contain nearly 15,000 extant species in around 2,700 genera, with around 3,300 fossil species. [1] Nearly half of these species are crabs, with the shrimp (about 3,000 species) and Anomura including hermit crabs , king crabs , porcelain crabs , squat lobsters (about 2500 species) making up the bulk of the remainder. [ 1 ]
After an analysis of new fossil material, the subgenera were elevated to the rank of genus, and three new genera were erected. [3] Most of the family's current diversity is found in temperate waters of the Northern Hemisphere .
Chesapeake blue crab: western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico Callinectes similis Williams, 1966: lesser blue crab or dwarf crab: Western Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico from the United States to Colombia. Callinectes toxotes Ordway, 1863: Eastern Pacific
There are 25 types of trace fossils of horseshoe crab, brachiopods, trilobites and pawless armor-plated fish that lived 450 million years ago in a lagoon. The fossils are set in rock of Harding Formation. [2] It is considered North America's best site of trace fossils because it shows the movement of the ancient animals. [1]
Dakoticancroidea is a superfamily of fossil crabs divided into the following two families: [1] [2] [3] † Dakoticancridae Rathbun, 1917 † Avitelmessus Rathbun, 1923 † Dakoticancer Rathbun, 1917 † Tetracarcinus Weller, 1905 † Ibericancridae Artal, Guinot, Van Bakel & Castillo, 2008 † Ibericancer Artal, Guinot, Van Bakel & Castillo, 2008
Fossils are rarely preserved in tropical settings in comparison to other parts of the world, making this fossil an even more unusual discovery. [7] An in-depth study of the crab's eyes indicated that Callichimaera was an active predator living high in the water column .