Blue Crab

Jane Goldstein

English, Science

Friday, October 15th 2015

Blue Crab

The scientific name of a blue crab is Callinectes sapidus. A blue crabs habitat is in fresh salty waters. The domain of a blue crab is eukaryote, the kingdom is animal, the phylum is arthropod, the class is crustacea, the order is decapoda, the family is portunidae, the genus is callinectes, and the species is sapidus. Blue crabs have bilateral symmetry. They have 5 sets of legs, one pair are the claws, another pair are the swimming legs. Blue crabs grow up to 9 inches. They also have an olive green shell. One adaptation of a blue crab is their claws. The claws help them defend themselves, and to catch prey. Another adaptation is the mouth, because it has jaws that hold and push food into the esophagus. One more adaptation is that the blue crab has one pair of swimming legs to help them swim much faster. A fun fact about blue crabs is that as they grow, they shed their shell! A blue crabs predators are sharks, eels, striped bass, and red drum fish. The prey of a blue crab are clams, snails, shrimp, worms, fish, and other crabs. Blue crabs are heterotrophic, and exothermic.