Ornate Blue Crab

Blue crabs, despite their size, are voracious eaters relishing dead fish, mussels, clams, and even smaller blue crabs.  Delightfully flavorful, their scientific name, Callinectes sapidus, means "savory beautiful swimmer."  In the mating season from May to October, females mate only once, carrying up to 2 million eggs. Spanning from the Gulf of Mexico to Nova Scotia, they've expanded to the Mediterranean, thriving in brackish waters.