Blue crab found in Mississippi River in Missouri

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) - Scientists studying the Mississippi River got quite a surprise recently - a male blue crab.

Southeast Missouri State University graduate student Nick Kramer was working with three Missouri Department of Conservation scientists last month when Kramer pulled a net for a paddlefish project at Cape Girardeau. Among the fish was the blue crab, a species that generally prefers an ocean habitat.

"Part of the exciting aspect of river research is that when you use a type of gear, you never quite know what you'll get when you pull it back out of the water," Kramer said. "While adult crabs typically prefer salt to brackish water along the coast, they can tolerate and live in fresh water."

Experts aren't sure if the crab was able to swim hundreds of miles up the river, if it "hitchhiked" on a vessel traveling up the river, or if it was dumped.

Frank Nelson, a wetlands ecologist for the conservation department, said the only other record of a blue crab that far north on the Mississippi or its tributaries was in 2004, when one was found in the lower Ohio River near Metropolis, Illinois.

The latest crab was found during sampling that is part of a statewide research project in which researchers are searching for self-sustaining wild populations of paddlefish for both sport and commercial fishing.


Information from: Southeast Missourian, http://www.semissourian.com