Meet the Chesapeake Crabs! You probably have already seen Abbey the red crab and Mace the blue crab while exploring the site. Believe it or not, Abbey and Mace have relatives that are an important part of the Chesapeake Bay! Below are pictures of the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab, a well known symbol for the bay itself. A blue crab, despite its name, is not just blue. Their shell is a green-grey color. Their claws are a bright blue, but the tips of their claws are red. The legs on a blue crab are shaped like paddles, which are excellent for swimming. As an adult, a blue crab will eat fish, oysters, bay grasses (SAV), clams, and anything else they can get their claws on! Male blue crabs are found in the upper areas of the bay, while the females are found closer the ocean. Bay grasses are used as nurseries for young crabs since they serve as excellent protection. This is important because blue crabs have a lot of predators. Larvae have to stay hidden from jellyfish, grass shrimp, sand shrimp, and even young blue crabs, who are a few of their predators. Adult crabs have to look out for themselves too, for American Eels, Striped Bass, Herons, Loggerhead turtles, and catfish are just a few of their predators. Blue crabs don't just have to worry about those predators, though. Humans are also harming blue crabs and their population. Though we adore the blue crab, we are harming it. Humans don't just admire the crab in water, everyone loves to eat blue crab. There's nothing wrong with this, but there is something wrong when too many crabs are harvested. However, we are trying to prevent that from happening. In 1994, a law was pasted limiting the amount of new entries in commericial fisheries. No licenses have been issued since April 1996. These steps are definatly helping save the crabs, but unless we continue to improve the situation, we still hold a threat to the blue crabs.