ACTA BIOLOGICA SLOVENICA 
 LJUBLJANA 2021               Vol. 64, Št. 2: 24–33
Status of the invasive blue crab Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896 
(Brachyura: Portunidae) in Slovenia
Status invazivne tujerodne modre rakovice Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896  
(Brachyura: Portunidae) v Sloveniji
Lovrenc Lipeja*, Manja Rogeljab
a Marine Biology Station, National Institute of biology, Fornače 41, 6330 Piran, Slovenia
b Aquarium Piran, Academic, Electronics and Maritime High School, Bolniška 11, 6330, Piran, 
Slovenia
*Correspondence: lovrenc.lipej@nib.si
Abstract: Authors present data regarding the presence of the invasive blue crab 
Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896 (Brachyura: Portunidae) based on records gathe-
red from local fishermen. This alien species was firstly recorded in Slovenian coastal 
waters in March 2019 and it was subsequently found in six other cases in 2019, 2020 
and 2021. Crabs were collected or sighted in shallow coastal areas along the Slovenian 
coast. In addition, authors discussed about the status of the blue crab in marine and 
coastal habitats of Slovenia. 
Keywords: Adriatic Sea, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896, invasive species, 
presence, Slovenia
Izvleček: Avtorja poročata o prisotnosti modre rakovice Callinectes sapidus 
Rathbun, 1896 (Brachyura: Portunidae) na podlagi podatkov, pridobljenih s strani 
lokalnih ribičev. Prvič smo to tujerodno vrsto v slovenskem obrežnem morju potrdili 
marca 2019, potem pa je bila zabeležena še v šestih primerih v letih 2019, 2020 in 
2021. Rakovice so bile v vseh primerih ulovljene ali opažene v plitvem obalnem 
morju vzdolž slovenske obale. Avtorja nadalje razpravljata o statusu modre rakovice 
v obmorskih in morskih življenjskih okoljih v Sloveniji.   
Ključne besede: Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896, invazivne vrste, Jadransko 
morje, prisotnost, Slovenija
Introduction 
The blue crab Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 
1896 (Brachyura: Portunidae), is considered an 
economically important species throughout its 
native area of distribution (Nehring 2011) which 
comprises the western Atlantic coast from Nova 
Scotia to Argentina (Manfrin et al. 2016). Its 
population supports intensive fishery, which 
currently supplies over one-third of all US com-
mercial blue crab landings (Miller et al. 2011). It 
is characterized by early maturity, rapid growth 
and high reproductive potential, strong swimming 
capacity and aggressive behaviour and is able to 
25Lipej and Rogelja: Status of the blue crab in Slovenia
efficiently exploit available resources in euryhaline 
and eurytherm environments (Piras et al. 2019). 
Nowadays, the blue crab is rapidly spreading its 
distribution worldwide (Mancinelli et al. 2021). 
During the last decades an expansion of the blue 
crab has been witnessed in almost all Mediter-
ranean countries (Galil 2011, Cerri et al. 2020). 
The blue crab is considered as one amongst the 
most invasive crab species (Streftaris and Zene-
tos 2006). Up to date it was reported in different 
habitat types, mainly in coastal lagoons, estuaries 
and coastal sea. The first record of this species in 
Europe originated from harbour of Rochefort in 
France in 1900 (Bouvier 1901). The first evidenced 
and documented record in the Mediterranean Sea 
was reported by Giordani Soika (1951) in the 
Lagoon of Marano and Grado in 1949, however, 
there are some findings showing that it may arrived 
already in the 1937 in the Aegean Sea (Nehring 
2011). Since then the crustacean started emer-
ging in different areas of the Mediterranean Sea 
(Cerri et al. 2020). The invasion of the blue crab 
is aided by warming sea temperatures (Nehring 
2011). During the last two decades the records 
of blue crab specimens have been  reported from 
different localities along the Adriatic coast in its 
southern (Onofri et al. 2008; Beqiraj and Kashta 
2010, Dulčić et al. 2010, 2011, Cilenti et al. 2015), 
middle (Florio et al. 2008; Castriota et al. 2012) 
and northern parts (Scaravelli and Mordenti 2007, 
Manfrin et al. 2016). However, the species is 
considered established only in southern Croatia, 
northern Albania and southern Italy (Castriota 
et al. 2012).  
Some authors mentioned different vectors as 
reponsible of Mediterranean introduction of the 
blue crab, such as dispersal of larvae by ballast 
water (Nehring 2011, Garcia et al. 2018) or by 
natural spreading due to its swimming abil-
ity (Galil et al. 2002). As it is a highly valued 
seafood, the possibility of an intentional intro-
duction for aquaculture reasons could not be 
neglegted, as well (Giordani-Soika 1951, Nehring 
2011). 
The aim of this contribution is to present 
all available data regarding the presence of the 
invasive alien crab in marine and coastal areas of 
Slovenia and to discuss its current status in the area.
Material and methods
Blue crab specimens were obtained by local 
fishermen who caught them in fishing nets or pho-
tographed them in situ. Blue crabs were captured 
accidentally from March 2019 to October 2021 in 
the Slovenian coastal waters. The collected crab 
specimens were measured by Vernier calliper to 
the nearest millimetre and weighed with digital 
balance. The biometric parameters which were 
measured were the carapace length (CL), carapace 
width (CW), abdomen length (AL), abdomen width 
(AW), propodus length (PL), dactylus length (DL), 
cheliped length (ChL), cheliped width (ChW) 
and cheliped height (ChH), and rostrum width 
(RW). The gender was easily assessed through 
the colour pattern and abdomen characters of 
specimens. According to the classification of 
Harding (2003), where blue crabs are divided 
in three size categories, e.g. small crabs if CW 
is lower than 80 mm, medium crabs, when CW 
range from 80 – 120 mm and large crabs, when 
CW is bigger than 120 mm. 
Results and discussion
Specimens were collected at seven different 
localities (Tab. 1, Figs. 1, 2), which were all 
characterized by their shallowness and muddy 
bottom. The earliest record of the blue crab origi-
nates from Seča (Fig. 2a), in front of the Jernej’s 
canal on 15th March 2019 (Lipej and Rogelja 
2021). Altogether 12 specimens were recorded, 
among which were 10 females and two males. Six 
specimens (5 females and one male; Fig 3) were 
collected, while another six specimens were sighted 
and photographed on 28 July 2020 (Table 1). All 
specimens were found in the period from March 
to October. The carapace width ranged between 
159.5 mm to 182 mm, while their weight ranged 
between 173 g and 402 g (Tab. 2). Therefore, all 
individuals recorded in Slovenia were classified 
as large sized specimens. 
Unlike in male blue crab, sexual maturity 
in females is established at the terminal moult, 
during which the coloration of the abdomen 
darkens and its shape changes from triangular 
to semi-circular presumably to provide a larger 
surface area for brooding eggs (Van Engel 1958, 
26Acta Biologica Slovenica, 2021, 64 (2), 24–33
Figure 1:  Map of the Slovenian coastal sea and adjacent waters of the Gulf of Trieste. Black points denote the 
records of the blue crab in the area. Legend: 1. Jernej’s channel, Seča, 2. Strunjan, 3. In front of the 
Sečovlje Salina, 4. Chanell in the Sečovlje salina, 5. Fiesa, 6. Piran and 7. Pacug. 
Slika 1:   Zemljevid slovenskega obalnega morja in okoliških voda. Črne pike označujejo lokalitete, kjer so bile 
potrjene modre rakovice. Legenda: 1. Jernejev kanal, Seča, 2. Strunjan, 3. Pred Sečoveljskimi solinami, 
4. Kanal v Sečoveljskih solinah, 5. Fiesa, 6. Piran in 7. Pacug. 
27Lipej and Rogelja: Status of the blue crab in Slovenia
Figure 2:  Blue crabs, recorded in the marine waters of Slovenia. (A) - female blue crab, captured on 15 March 
2019, (B) - An ovigerous female, recorded on 9 April 2020, (C) - female, captured recorded on 
16 October 2019.  
Slika 2:   Modre rakovice, ulovljene v slovenskih morskih vodah. (A) - samica, ujeta 15 marca 2019, (B) - ovi-
gerna samica, ujeta 9. aprila 2020, (C) - samica, ujeta 16. oktobra 2019.
A
B
C
28Acta Biologica Slovenica, 2021, 64 (2), 24–33
Figure 3:  A male specimen of the blue crab, captured at 14 October 2021 in Pacug.  
Slika 3:   Samec modre rakovice, ujet 14 oktobra 2021 v Pacugu.
Jivoff et al. 2007). Based on these characteristics 
all five collected females are considered as sexu-
ally mature. Females have the only opportunity to 
mate immediately after the pubertal moult. They 
store the spermatophores containing sperm and 
can therefore produce multiple broods over several 
years, reaching 1 – 3 broods in temperate waters 
and up to 7 in tropical waters per year (Hines et 
al. 2003). The female collected on 9th April 2020 
(Fig. 2b) and kept in the tank developed an egg 
mass beneath its aprons that was firstly noticed on 
9th July 2020.  The eggs were already brown and 
got darker in the period of four days, showing that 
the egg development was reaching its final stage. 
The egg mass was not noticed before as the female 
was less active and buried in the sand during the 
day. On 13th July the female was preventively 
translocated to a quarantine tank where it was 
kept until the release of larvae, so no accidental 
escape of larvae to the sea could be possible. On 
17th July the female was returned to the aquarium 
in the public area. 
The majority of specimens were caught in 
shallow waters on sedimentary bottom or in es-
tuaries and channels. As an opportunistic species 
the blue crab is able to tolerate wide oscillations 
of temperature and salinity, typical conditions 
of brackish waters and adjacent eurytherm and 
euryhaline habitats (Piras et al. 2019). Such envi-
ronment is characterized by low number of native 
species and seems to offer many non occupied 
ecological niches (Nehring 2006, 2011). Brackish 
waters are also in general known as environments 
where alien species are very successful in term of 
colonisation (Paavola et al. 2005).
The first record of C. sapidus in the northern-
most part of the Adriatic Sea originated before 
seventy years (Giordani Soika 1951), however, 
only recently new findings were discovered in 
the area (Manfrin et al. 2016). Such records were 
reported only during the past five years. It is 
reasonable to speculate that the blue crab arrived 
in Slovenian waters from the Italian part of the 
Gulf of Trieste where it was recently discovered 
in Marano and Grado Lagoon (Manfrin et al. 
2016). The second possibility is that the species 
came from the south, i.e. from Istria, where it is 
considered as frequent from Savudrija to Pula (Sla-
donja, personal communication), although there 
are no published records in that regard. However, 
Gljuščić (2019) in his Master thesis mentioned 
a case of the blue crab finding in the vicinity of 
Šćuza lagoon, near Pomer bay in southern Istria. 
The third possibility is that the blue crabs recruited 
to the Gulf of Trieste and Slovenian waters as set-
tled larvae from ship’s ballast waters (Manfrin et 
al. 2016). 
29Lipej and Rogelja: Status of the blue crab in Slovenia
Table 1:   Occurrence of the blue crab in Slovenian coastal waters. 
Tabela 1:  Pojavljanje modre rakovice v slovenskih obalnih vodah.
GPS position Depth
N Date Locality N E (m) Ind.
1 15.03.2019 Jernej’s canal 45.50055556 13.58416667 6 1♀
2 16.10.2019 Strunjan 45.535630 13.601313 5 1♀
3 09.04.2020 Portorož 45.48138889 13.58777778 3 1♀
4 28.07.2020 Sečovlje salina 45.48472222 13.59388889 1 5♀,1♂
5 13.09.2021 Fiesa 45.52750000 13.57888889 9 1♀
6 03.10.2021 Piran 45.52555556 13.56694444 4 1♀
7 14.10.2021 Pacug 45.526111 13.590278 3 1♂
Taking into account recently published data 
of Benabdi et al. (2019) and Shaiek et al. (2021) 
the occurrence of C. sapidus is so far confirmed 
in 18 out of the 23 countries surrounding the 
Mediterranean Sea. Since the species was recen-
tly confirmed also in Slovenian waters (Lipej 
and Rogelja 2021), Slovenia represents the 19th 
country. On the basis of regular monitoring of 
non-indigenous species in marine waters of 
Slovenia up to date at least 57 non-indigenous 
species were reported in the Slovenian part of the 
Adriatic Sea (Orlando Bonaca et al. 2020, Mavrič 
et al. 2021). Among them the blue crab is the only 
alien crab. Since in the close proximity other alien 
crab species were recorded, such as Callinectes 
danae (Mizzan 1993), Dyspanopeus sayi (Mizzan 
1995) and Rhitropanopeus harrisii (Mizzan and 
Zanella 1996) from the northern Adriatic lagoons, 
Hemigrapsus sanguineus from waters off Rovinj 
(Schubart 2003) and Eriocheir sinensis (Bettoso 
and Comisso, 2015) from the Lagoon of Grado 
and Marano, some of them could be recorded in 
Slovenia in nearby future. 
According to some authors (Nehring 2011) 
the blue crab may benefit from global warming. 
It has been hypothesized that as global tempera-
tures rise, blue crabs will probably experience a 
northward range expansion (Johnson 2015), which 
facilitate their colonisation and dispersion in new 
environments (Nehring 2011). 
Although the blue crab was recorded in three 
successive years in Slovenian coastal waters it 
is still not possible to consider the species as an 
established one. In fact, all findings were recorded 
in the warmer period of the year. Due to the low 
winter temperatures, the species is probably not 
able to survive such harsh conditions occurring in 
winter. However, there are some evidences from 
the estuary of the Neretva river where “muddy” 
individuals, which may emerged after overwin-
tering buried in the sediments, were observed 
(Mancinelli et al. 2016). 
In its native area, the Chesapeake Bay, the 
average winter temperatures on the sea bottom 
reach 3.4 °C. Rome et al. (2005) showed that 
significant mortality may not occur unless water 
temperatures drop significantly below 3° C for an 
extended period of time. Since the average winter 
temperature in the Slovenian sea is higher, with the 
average in the coldest month of February 7.3° C 
and minimal 6.3° C (ARSO, 2019), the blue crab 
could be able to over-winter in the studied area. 
The arrival of this invasive alien crab in the 
waters off Slovenia was expected since it was 
previously recorded in the immediate vicinity at 
Italian sites (see Manfrin et al. 2016) and could be 
attributed to higher water temperatures. Although 
only few records have been reported to us so far, 
the local occurrence and the further dispersion of 
this species deserve to be cautiously monitored, 
30Acta Biologica Slovenica, 2021, 64 (2), 24–33
especially in order to gain data on the functional 
role that this taxon could play within benthic 
food webs in Mediterranean coastal habitats. Ac-
cording to Mancinelli et al. (2017) the blue crab 
can prey on a wide spectrum of native crab and 
fish or compete with them, which could inflict 
potentially high ecological impacts on the native 
biota. Since in its native area of distribution the 
blue crabs plays a major role in energy transfer 
within the food web of estuaries and lagoons, it 
may also be responsible for certain impacts in the 
invaded environments. 
Povzetek
Modra rakovica Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 
1896 (Brachyura: Portunidae) je med najbolj 
invazivnimi vrstami rakovic, ki so jo doslej 
potrdili v 19 od 23 sredozemskih držav. Prvič 
smo to tujerodno vrsto v slovenskem obrežnem 
morju potrdili marca 2019, potem pa je bila za-
beležena še v šestih primerih v letih 2019, 2020 
in 2021. Skupaj je bilo popisanih 12 primerkov, 
od katerih je bilo 10 samic in dva samca. Vse 
najdbe pa izvirajo iz toplejšega dela leta. Rakovice 
so bile v vseh primerih ulovljene ali opažene v 
evrihalinih in evritermnih življenjskih okoljih v 
plitvem obalnem morju vzdolž slovenske obale. 
Gre za oportunistično vrsto, ki je zmožna tol-
erirati velika nihanja temperature in slanosti, ki 
Table 2:  Biometrical parameters, measured on the collected specimens of blue crab, recorded in the coastal   
 waters of Slovenia. All measurements are in millimetres.
Tabela 2:  Biometrični parametri, izmerjeni na zbranih primerkih modre rakovice, ulovljenih v slovenskih   
 obalnih vodah. Vse meritve so izražene v milimetrih. 
Date 15. 03. 2019 16. 10. 2019 9. 04. 2020 13. 09. 2020 3. 10. 2021 14. 10. 2021
Sex ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀ ♂
Weight (g) 173 234 188 287 189 402
Carapace width 182 186 174 170.5 159.5 172
Carapace length 68.5 73.5 69 74 65 78.5
Rostrum width 36 38 36.1 45 39 46.5
Abdomen length 51 50 49 47 47 55
Abdomen width 55 55 54 55.5 52 54.5
Right chelipod length 74 82.5 75.5 83.9 72 112.1
Left chelipod length 76 80 77.5 80 63 109
Right propodus length 33 36 30 35.5 31.5 37.5
Left propodus length 31 33.5 32 33 26.5 44.2
Right chelipod height 24.4 26.5 20 30.3 15 34.5
Left chelipod height 20.5 22.5 23 23 18.5 30
Right dactylus length 39.5 41 38 43 34.8 34
Left dactylus length 39 40 - 42 33.1 55.2
Right chelipod width 17.5 19 15 20.8 18 25
Left chelipod width 16 17 16.5 18 13 23
31Lipej and Rogelja: Status of the blue crab in Slovenia
so značilna za brakične vode. Premer karapaksa 
rakovic je bil med 159.5 mm in 182 mm, telesna 
masa pa je bila med 173 g and 402 g. Čeprav 
je bila modra rakovica doslej najdena le na 
manjšem številu lokalitet, je njeno pojavljanje in 
razširjanje smiselno spremljati, še posebej z vidika 
pridobivanja podatkov o funkcionalni vlogi, ki jo 
ima ta vrsta v pridnenem prehranjevalnem spletu 
sredozemskih obrežnih habitatov. 
Acknowledgments
We dedicate this paper to prof Jože Štirn, 
one of the pioneers of the marine biological and 
oceanological research in Slovenia, We would 
like to express our gratitude to fishermen Zlatko 
Novogradec and Emanuel Letica from Piran and 
Strunjan, respectively, who provided us with 
specimens and photographs of the blue crabs. 
Special thanks also to our colleague Gorazd Lazar 
who helped us with the measurements on crabs. 
Finally, we would like to thank Milijan Šiško who 
prepared a map with reported records.
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