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My family and most of my friends were always blue crab meat or jumbo shrimp kinds of people.

Atlantic blue crab species reached the Mediterranean in ballast waters and through the Suez Canal.

But the blue crab — a strong and fast swimmer and a voracious and aggressive eater with no natural predators here other than fishermen — has put Italy’s clam and mussel producers in crisis.

Named for their brilliant sapphire-colored claws, blue crab is one of the most iconic species in the Chesapeake Bay.

In the Chesapeake Bay alone, some 40 species have been caught in derelict blue crab traps, from rock fish and flounder to diving ducks, Havens said.