Callinectes sapidus, 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
Blue crab escaping from the net along the Core Banks of North Carolina.
Females (or "sooks") have a broad abdomen, similar to the shape of the dome of the United States Capitol.
Males (or "jimmies") have a narrow abdomen, resembling the Washington Monument.
Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the world's oceans, in freshwater, and on land, are generally covered with a thick exoskeleton, and have a single pair of pincers on each arm. They first appeared during the Jurassic period, around 200 million years ago.
Crab
Gecarcinus quadratus, a land crab from Central America
Crab (Pachygrapsus marmoratus) on Istrian coast, Adriatic Sea
Female crab Xantho poressa at spawning time in the Black Sea, carrying eggs under her abdomen