By Amanda Karr
Maryland Newsline
Friday, Feb. 28,  2003

1. What is the scientific name of the blue crab, a species Maryland’s waters are known for?

Eschrichtius robustus Lichtenburg
Phoca vitulina Thiel
Mesoplodon carlhubbsi Simms
Callinectes sapidus Rathbun

2. What are adult male and female crabs called?

Males are called claws and females are called softies.
Males are called jimmies and females are called sooks.
Males are called dudes and females are called dudettes.
Males are called hecabs and females are called femcabs.

3. When a crab is emerging from its old shell, what is it doing?

Molting
Hatching
Busting
Escaping

4. What is the name for a female crab that cannot be harvested because she has an egg mass on her abdomen?

sponge crab
maternal crab
bloated crab
caesarean crab

5. What is a soft-shelled crab?

It's what a crab is called after it has been boiled.
It's a type of crab in the same family as the blue crab.
It's what a crab is called immediately after it molts.
It's a female blue crab.

6. What are newly hatched crab larvae called?

Zoea
Zygotes
Crabites
Megalops

7. In what year was the blue crab designated the Maryland state crustacean?

1959
1969
1979
1989

8. What is the oldest a blue crab usually lives to?

one year
three years
five years
10 years

9. What was the largest blue crab recorded from Maryland?

five inches
seven inches
nine inches
11 inches

10. About what percentage of blue crabs harvested in the United States is from the Chesapeake Bay?

10 percent
30 percent
50 percent
70 percent