Blue Crab (female)

Description:

The blue crab's carapace (or shell) is about 7 inches (17.8 cm) wide and 4 inches (10.2 cm) long. It weighs 1 to 2 pounds (0.45 to 0.9 kg) when fully grown. The back of the blue crab is dark or brownish green and is drawn out on each side into a large spine. When fully grown the spine may be more than 8 inches wide. The abdomen and lower legs are white. Crab claws are various shades of blue, but the claw tips of the female are red.

Habitat:

Blue crabs eat clams, oysters, and mussels, as well as almost any vegetable or animal matter, preferably freshly dead or freshly caught food-sometimes even young crabs. Its predators include red drum, Atlantic croaker, herons, sea turtles and humans. Along Hwy. 27 some of the fishermen were crabbing, but not here with the alligator under the bridge.

Notes:

Sabine NWR,about 8 miles south of Hackberry, on State Highway 27, was established in 1937 to provide habitat for migratory waterfowl and other birds. The refuge consists of a basin of wetlands located between the Gulf's beach cheniers (oak ridges)and the coastal prairie, which is one of the most productive and fertile areas of North America. It encompasses 124,511 acres of fresh,intermediate and brackish marshes and is one of the largest estuarine-dependent marine species nurseries in southwest Louisiana. It has also been designated as an "Internationally Important Bird Area" due to the numerous wading, water and marsh birds that utilize it throughout the year.