Movement of blue crabs in Trinity Bay.

Blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) were tagged during December 1977 in Trinity Bay, Texas to determine movement during winter and spring. Peterson disc tags were attached by wire to 300 blue crabs (>127 mm) which were released at eight sites. Commercial fishermen returned 54 tags (18% return rate). Of these tags, 94% were returned during March and April. A general southward movement of blue crabs was detected during spring. Male crabs generally remained within an average distance of 7.9 km of release sites whereas female crabs traveled an average distance of 19.1 km from crabs traveled to middle and lower bay areas.