Blue Crab Standoff! Urbanna Creek, Virginia

Blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, are one of the iconic species of the Chesapeake Bay. On a recent morning checking our Chesapeake Bay Governor's School oyster floats, I pulled up this feisty sally, and she was not backing down! Blue crabs (especially juveniles) prefer to live in sea grass beds where they are well camouflaged and can easily find food like small clams, worms, and basically whatever they can latch their claws onto. The work of the "Restore Urbanna Creek" group over the last decade, rebuilding the local oyster population in Urbanna Creek has led to an amazing increase in submerged aquatic grasses, which in turn means more blue crabs are finding good habitat here. Together we can make a difference to improve water quality and ecosystem function, and have more crabby battles to come!