Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 Excerpt:...form, arid are said to be in the Zoaza stage. The head and middle part of the body are covered with a delicate shell which gives rise to four long, sharp spines. One of these is directed forward and downward between the eyes, another rises from the centre of the back, and two others from the side near the middle of Fig. 6T; BLUE OR EDIBLE CRAB. Long Island Sound. the body. The abdomen is long, and is not folded back under the body but projects freely. The little creature has a pair of stalked eyes and swims rapidly near the surface. It then moults a number of times and changes into what is called the megalopn stage, in which it resembles a little crab excepting that the abdomen is stretched straight out, and not bent forward under the body as in full grown crabs. The Blue or Edible Crab, (Callinectes sapidus, Fig. 67), is the common crab of the markets, and it ranges from the Gulf of Mexico to Cape Cod. Very closely allied species are also found in the West Indies, on the African coast, and in the Pacific. Our crab fishery is worth more than $320,000 per year to the fishermen themselves. While we are sufficiently familiar with the general appearance of the blue crab, an account of its habits may be interesting. It delights in shallow bays and estuaries where the bottom is muddy and covered with eel-grass, and the water may be brackish. Here the crabs live during the summer, but in winter they retire to deeper places. They feed upon dead or live fishes and many other marine animals. In fact, almost any decomposing animal will be greedily devoured by crabs. The shell is shed at Fig. 68; GREEN CRAB. Annlsquam, Mass. least once during the summer and the crab then expands considerably, but remains soft for a few days, and is then sold in the markets as a "s...