Importance of Season and Size of Release to Stocking Success for the Blue Crab in Chesapeake Bay

Hide and seek: habitat-mediated interactions between European green crabs and native mud crabs in Atlantic Canada

“…A second mechanism to explain why juvenile green crab mortality levels were unaffected by habitat is the exact opposite; juvenile green crabs may lack the ability to effectively use complex habitat to escape predation. Long et al (2015) suggested that responding to predator presence by engaging in cryptic behavior (i.e., hiding in complex habitat) may be a learned behavior, and in some crab species, refuge-seeking behavior is known to develop with size and age (Johnson et al 2008;Stoner et al 2010;Pirtle et al 2012). Under this hypothesis, we might expect that 'naïve' juvenile mortality would indeed be similar across habitat types, while the mud crabs (already adults in our experiment) would be expected to be more experienced and have a greater affinity for hiding in complex environments.…”

Biotic structure indirectly affects associated prey in a predator-specific manner via changes in the sensory environment

“…We tethered 18 adult blue crabs (10-15 cm carapace width; including both male and female individuals) using a common wire figure-eight harness placed over the lateral spines that was then attached to a PVC pole via a coated wire fishing leader (approx 30 cm in length, 30 lb test) (Johnson et al 2008). PVC poles (with attached crabs) were placed concurrently at 0, 5, and 10 m from oyster reefs near our study area (the 30 cm tether allowed crabs access to reef refuge at the 0 m treatment distance).…”

Do Hatchery-Reared Blue Crabs Differ from Wild Crabs, and Does it Matter?

“…Such defects could depress growth and ultimately result in reduced survivorship of cultured individuals, particularly in species such as the blue crab, in which survival is size-dependent (Hines and Ruiz, 1995;Johnson et al, 2008). However, it is also possible that cultured organisms, accustomed to constant feeding, have honed feeding skills.…”

“…Initial observations from field releases (Davis et al, 2005a;Johnson et al, 2008) suggest that hatcheryreared crabs can readily adapt to natural prey (Davis et al, 2004) and grow at similar rates to wild crabs following release.…”