Callinectes Sapidus

The blue crab is a species of swimming crab in the family Portunidae, growing to a carapace width of about 23 centimeters, with males showing blue claws tipped in red and a narrow abdomen and females showing orange claws tipped in purple and a broad, rounded abdomen. It is native to the western Atlantic from Cape Cod to Argentina and throughout the Gulf of Mexico, and it has also been introduced through ship ballast water to the Baltic, North, Mediterranean and Black Seas. It is of major culinary and economic importance in the United States, especially in Louisiana, the Carolinas, the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware and New Jersey, and it is Maryland's official crustacean and largest commercial fishery, though overfishing and environmental pressure have reduced catches in some areas.