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The blue crab's carapace (or shell) is about 7 inches (17.8 cm) wide and 4 inches (10.2 cm) long. With an average weight of 1/3 pound per crab, that means you’re getting just 0.75 ounces of crab meat per crab. Though Blue crab meat is available year-round, live crabs are most plentiful during warmer months. Caught just after shedding their hard outer shell (called "molting"), our crabs are carefully selected for their superior quality and size. offers the largest grading scale in the industry at the most affordable price. However, quality can be inconsistent due to the crab's molting cycle. Mike Garrity of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and … Crabbing in Louisiana comes to an abrupt halt Sunday night when a state imposed 30-day prohibition goes into effect. Recreational crabbing requirements are minimal, both license- and gear-wise. Summer is the most popular, plentiful season for crabs.
#Blue crab size chart free#
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon. When fully grown the spine may be more than 8 inches wide. The claws on the adult female blue crab are tipped with red. Blue Crab Sizing Chart Chesapeake Crab Connection offers the largest grading scale in the industry at the most reasonable prices. In Louisiana, we can tell what time of year it is based on what seafood is freshest.CrabIn Season: February–DecemberJust to give you some perspective of how important crabbing is to Louisiana, here are some fun facts about it: The state is the No. They are a delicacy in the United States and many blue crab suppliers receive their hatch from Chesapeake fisheries. KUFA Rubber Wrapped Steel Crab Trap Ring (Size:Ã✃0) with 50' Rope & Bait Bag CT88+BAG7. Well then, I suggest a $10.00 Blue crab surcharge on saltwater fishing licenses to pay for the rec data program. Louisiana law provides that only legal stone crab claws can be set on shore from a vessel and that whole stone crabs cannot be landed, except for a tolerance of one stone crab per crate of blue … Our crabs are measured on the 1/2 inch point to point on the top shell increments and giving their appropriate size according to the "Old Time Maryland" grading scale. Thousands of new, high-quality pictures added every day.
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The back of the blue crab is dark or brownish green and is drawn out on each side into a large spine. Shrimp, jellyfish, fish, and other plankton-eaters feed on larval blue crab a number of commercial and sport fish, turtles, birds, and alligators prey on juvenile and adult blue crabs.Jumbo – 6 to 6 1/2 inches. Juveniles and adults feed on small fish, bivalves, crustaceans, plant material, detritus, and other blue crabs. Larval blue crab feed on plankton, but as they grow and settle to the bottom, their diet expands. Live 3 to 4 years.īlue crabs are opportunistic feeders, eating whatever food is available. Assisted by winds and tides, post-larval blue crabs migrate back into shallower, less saline waters in middle and upper estuaries where they grow and mature. Crabs grow by molting-their hard shell restricts growth, so they must shed it to increase in size. Tides transport newly hatched larvae from estuaries to adjacent continental shelf waters where they molt several times. A female can carry up to 3.5 million fertilized eggs. At this stage, the female is known as a “sponge” or “berry” crab. As the fertilized eggs develop, the female moves them to their underside and carries them until they are fully developed. Females move to saltier coastal Gulf and estuarine waters to spawn. The female stores the sperm in receptacles for several months. After mating, the male stays to protect the female until her new shell hardens. Mate in brackish waters of the upper estuary just after the female molts, while her shell is still soft. Typically mature after 12 months and can mate and spawn almost year round, with peak activity in spring and summer. Females are typically found in the higher salinity waters of coastal lakes and bays, while males can tolerate extremely low salinities and can be found in many tidally-influenced freshwater bodies. They often hide in structure such as marsh and sea grass or oyster reefs, or bury in soft mud bottoms for protection from predators. Bottom dwellers, adult blue crabs are found in practically every bottom type from mud flats in the shallow waters of the Gulf to grass beds in almost fresh estuarine waters. Range from the northern Atlantic coast through the Gulf of Mexico down through most South America's eastern coast.