Callinectes sapidus

Callinectes sapidus, 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.

Callinectes sapidus

Uncredited · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CallinectesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Decapoda
Life habit
semi-infaunalPBDB, for Portunoidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Malacostraca
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Malacostraca

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Oligocene — about 0 of 21 occurrencesMiocene — about 5 of 21 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 21 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 15 of 21 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.4–1.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 8 occurrences15.98 Mya129 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

21 occurrences of Callinectes sapidus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

21 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

7 formations

Talbot — 38.07°N, 76.36°WTalbot — 38.05°N, 76.52°WTalbot — 38.63°N, 76.29°WCape May — 39.94°N, 74.07°WChipola — 30.47°N, 85.16°WChipola — 30.47°N, 84.99°WYorktown — 36.73°N, 76.57°WPamlico — 34.78°N, 76.69°WBowden — 17.89°N, 76.31°WSt. Marys — 38.35°N, 76.39°W

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The named rock units Callinectes sapidus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Callinectes sapidus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Callinectes sapidus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

106 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 4 sites for Callinectes sapidus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

4 references

Each of the 21 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Callinectes sapidus

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCallinectes through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Rathbun 1896