#4504 · 🦀 crabs & other crustaceans
Atlantic Blue Crab
🇳🇱 Blauwe zwemkrab ·Callinectes sapidus
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Le Gallais · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Le Gallais · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Alex Shure · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © jere7my tho?rpe · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 5. © Yvonne Vaillancourt · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Rogelio Arreola Alemón · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. © isalukis · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. © krissyleigh · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. © Javi Gonzalez · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. © Phil's 1stPix · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
what is it?
Callinectes sapidus (from the Ancient Greek κάλλος kállos 'beautiful' + νήκτης nḗktēs 'swimmer', and the Latin sapidus 'savory'), commonly known as the blue crab , Atlantic blue crab , or, regionally, the Maryland blue crab , is a species of crab native to the waters of the western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and introduced internationally.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 1 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 26,226 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Mary J. Rathbun in 1896 (130 years ago).
- Not originally Dutch: it was introduced to the Netherlands.
fact sheet
- English
- Atlantic Blue Crab
- Nederlands
- Blauwe zwemkrab
- scientific name
- Callinectes sapidus
- class
- Malacostraca
- order
- Decapoda
- family
- Portunidae
- in NL
- introduced
- sightings in NL
- 1
- sightings in Europe
- 3,415
- sightings worldwide
- 26,226
- GBIF records in NL
- 38
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1896 by Mary J. Rathbun
relatives· Portunidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 49504, Wikidata Q844839, GBIF 2225646, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.