This website is part of The New York Public Library's Online Exhibition Archive. For current classes, programs, and exhibitions, please visit nypl.org.




• Intro / Home
• Historical Neighbors
• Street and Backyard
  Neighbors

• Park and Green Places
  Neighbors

• Shore and Wetlands
  Neighbors

• Salt and Freshwater
  Neighbors

• Tiny Neighbors
• Unwelcome Neighbors
• Occasional and
  Unexpected Neighbors


• Wildlife Sighting Log
• Resources

• Hours and Tours
• Press Release

• NYPL HOME


 Salt and Freshwater Neighbors
Salt Intro | Image: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Photographic Services & Permissions      
 

Blue Crab (Callinectes sapidus)
Hand-colored lithograph, with outlines made by camera lucida, after J. W. Hill
From: James Ellsworth DeKay, Zoology of New York, or the New York Fauna. Vol. 5/6 of 6 (New York State. Geological Survey. Natural History of New York. Parts 1–6) (Albany, 1842–44)
NYPL, Science, Industry and Business Library


The Latin suffix sapidus, meaning "tasty," accurately describes the common Blue Crab, sometimes called the Blue-claw Crab. This quality is one reason why it has long been harvested in great numbers both commercially and recreationally from New York Harbor and Jamaica Bay. Together with other resident crustaceans, mollusks, fishes, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and birds, it was illustrated and described in DeKay's landmark six-volume study, a section of the New York State Geological Survey of the natural history of New York State.

The excellent hand-colored lithographs of this monumental publication are unusual in that the outlines of the figures were created using the camera lucida, an early photographic instrument.


  © 2002 The New York Public Library