Intertidal Green Crab Survey Over a Ten-year Period on a Maine Cobble Beach

Bruce J. Stephen^1,* and Meg Begley–Irish²

¹Acadia Institute of Oceanography, Seal Harbor, ME 04675. ²Maine Ocean School, Searsport, ME 04974. *Corresponding author.

Northeastern Naturalist, Volume 30, Issue 1 (2023): 1–8

Abstract
Here we report on the long-term monitoring of Carcinus maenas (European Green Crab) populations on an intertidal region of a cobble beach in Maine conducted from 2011 to 2021. The number of Green Crabs collected fluctuated between 129 and 474 individuals per sample event. We collected crabs twice each year, with a total number collected of 389 to 798 per year. In addition, we collected Hemigrapsus sanguineus (Asian Shore Crab) in 2 sample years (2019 and 2021), accounting for only 7 individuals. No compelling relationships between Green Crab densities and sea-water temperature, average carapace width, or year of the collection were revealed.

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