Migratory Behavior of Ovigerous Blue Crabs Callinectes sapidus: Evidence for Selective Tidal-Stream Transport

Abstract

In the late summer and early fall, newly inseminated female blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) leave low-salinity areas of estuaries and migrate seaward to spawn near the entrance. We tested the hypothesis that migration of female C. sapidus to spawning grounds is facilitated by selective tidal-stream transport (STST). We monitored the swimming direction of adult crabs from a stationary platform located about 1 km inside the entrance to the Newport River Estuary (Beaufort, North Carolina). Swimming activity near the surface occurred primarily at night and most crabs avoided swimming against tidal currents. Eighty-one percent of the crabs observed moving down-estuary toward the inlet during ebb tide were ovigerous females. Of the 36 gravid females captured traveling in ebb currents, 97% possessed dark egg masses containing late-stage embryos. Conversely, nearly all (98%) adult crabs observed traveling in flood currents lacked egg masses, and all the females captured while migrating up-estuary exhibited signs of recent spawning. These observations indicate that ovigerous blue crabs use ebb-tide transport to migrate seaward to spawn and flood-tide transport to reenter the estuary shortly after larval release.

Distribución espacial y temporal del cangrejo Callinectes sapidus (Decapoda: Portunidae) en la Bahía de Chetumal, Quintana Roo, México

“…Román-Contreras (1986b) mencionó que la carencia de hembras ovígeras de Callinectes en la Laguna de Términos, Campeche, fue debido a que el muestreo se realizó en áreas abiertas, donde la influencia de aguas fluviales y marinas ya mezcladas no permiten valores altos de salinidad. Después de la inseminación, las hembras migran hacia el mar a áreas de alta salinidad (euhalinas) cerca de la boca de los estuarios, para desovar (van Engel 1958, Tankersley et al 1998). …”

“…Aún cuando existen investigaciones sobre la biología, distribución, reproducción y manejo pesquero de las jaibas, especialmente de C. sapidus en Estados Unidos (Churchill 1919, van Engel 1958, Adkins 1972, Williams 1974, Millikin y Williams 1984, Hines et al 1987, Schaffner y Díaz 1988, Rothschild et al 1992, Guillory et al 1996, Tankersley et al 1998, esta información no puede ser generalizada a otras regiones, debido a diferencias geomorfológicas, patrones de salinidad y circulación, que influyen en la distribución y abundancia de los organismos en ambientes estuarinos.…”

Grooming behaviors and gill fouling in the commercially important blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) and stone crab (Menippe mercenaria)

“…Their habitats differ with blue crabs being active swimmers that frequently migrate in the water column and estuaries and even move several km/day (Gray, 1957;Ward, 2012). In stone crabs, migration is small (move at a rate of 6m/day; Bert, 1992) and live benthically in crevices near hypoxic or anoxic fine sediment in oyster beds and mudflats (Gray, 1957;Powell and Gunter, 1968;Bert et al, 1978;Sullivan, 1979;Zimmerman et al, 1989;Bert, 1992;Tankersley et al, 1998). Stone crabs are collected in highest densities in habitats of Grooming behaviors in blue and stone crabs Nauplius, 25: e2017028 mud and burrow as adults (Bert et al, 1978;Bert, 1992); juveniles do not live in burrows (Bert et al, 1978).…”

The Relative Importance of the Sedge Island Marine Conservation Zone for Adult Blue Crabs in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey

“…The abundance and size of females was similar among locations, but, except in May, the SIMCZ had a consistently higher percentage of ovigerous females compared with the other locations. In this and other estuaries (Ogburn and Habegger, 2015;Tankersley et al, 1998;Van Engel, 1958), ovigerous females spawn near the entrance to the bay; therefore, ovigerous females may accumulate in the SIMCZ because of its proximity to Barnegat Inlet and the spawning grounds. Interestingly, the high incidence of ovigerous females in May at the west locations may be due to variation in physical characteristics among the sampling sites within that location.…”

“…Blue crabs are known to use the habitats found within the SIMCZ, including shallow areas with submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV; Perkins, Wolcott, and Wolcott, 1996;Wilson, Able, and Heck, 1990), macroalgae, or both (Epifanio et al, 2003) and deeper areas with little or no structure (Hines et al, 1995). The SIMCZ is adjacent to Barnegat Inlet, an opening to the ocean that may be part of the spawning grounds for female blue crabs, as seen in other estuaries (Tankersley et al, 1998;Van Engel, 1958). Indeed, in Chesapeake Bay, the spawning grounds near the mouth of the estuary were traditionally an MPA, protecting females at the spawning grounds from harvesting.…”