First Record of Gravid Female American Blue Crab (Callinectes sapidus Rathbun 1986) From the Black Sea

Abstract

The occurrence of American blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun 1896, has been reported from the Black Sea, however, no gravid female has previously observed. Here, we record the first gravid female blue crab from the Black Sea. One individual of Atlantic blue crab was caught at 2 m depth using trammel net on 24 th June 2020. The carapace width, carapace length, and the wet body weight of the crab were 200 mm, 81.03 mm, and 406.22 g, respectively. We also counted the eggs and measured the egg size. We further determined that the majority of the eggs were eyed, suggesting potential adaptation of the blue crabs to the Black Sea ecosystem.