Monday, August 07, 2006

Maryland Crab Cakes

The Baltimore Sun is reporting that a Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) has been found in the Patapsco River in Maryland. A crabber discovered the non-native species this past June when checking his pots for crabs. This is the first record for the Chinese mitten crab in Maryland or anywhere in the Chesapeake region - they've been on the west coast of the U.S. for a while now.

Update:As an anonymous ISW reader points out in the comments below, a second Chinese mitten crab has been found from the same river, from a catch over one year ago. Kudos to the volunteer park ranger who heard the alert that went out and realized he had one of the crabs in his freezer.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A second mitten crab from the Chesapeake Bay, caught a year or more ago, was hiding in someone's freezer.

Anonymous said...

Chinese mitten crab is extinct? I did not about this.