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Invasive Crabs Inventory at Assateague Island National Seashore - Open Format Dataset

Metadata Updated: October 16, 2025

An invasive crab inventory survey was performed to document the abundance and spatial distribution of the European green crab (Carcinus maenas) and the Japanese shore crab (Hemigrapsus sanguineus) at Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS) which forms the eastern boundaries of Chincoteague and Sinepuxent Bays. Three habitat types (rocky, vegetated and unvegetated) are present within the Chincoteague and Sinepuxent Bays. Each habitat type was sampled to determine if different habitat types support different populations of these invasive crabs. Rocky habitat is known to be limited in these bays and there are only seven known locations of this habitat type. Crab traps were placed at randomly assigned stations where tidal elevations are within the known range and preferences of the invasive crabs.

Throughout two surveys representing July and September conditions, 15 species were collected and only one species was identified as an invasive crab. Only three C. maenas were captured throughout the project. These individuals were captured during the July survey at one of the rocky habitat stations. No invasive crab species were collected at either the vegetated or unvegetated habitats. Discrete water quality parameters that were measured during the initial deployment indicate that temperature and salinity at the survey stations may be at the extreme end of this species tolerance.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 16, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI NPS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 16, 2025
Publisher National Park Service
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/nps-datastore-2299571
Data First Published 2023-04-27T00:00:00Z
Data Last Modified 2023-04-27T00:00:00Z
Category Data Package
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:24
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/nps-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 658a4d6d-4eb2-45da-9db7-731bc19cb68a
Harvest Source Id d917c1a9-26b7-43ea-b8c5-c77ec750a850
Harvest Source Title DOI NPS DCAT-US
Homepage URL https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2299571
Old Spatial -75.41369,37.8564,-75.0864,38.3291
Program Code 010:119, 010:118
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash e62516062c1ae42124d5fb12d3946591fc0b8b075958ffc8c154a03c9bae4050
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -75.41369, 37.8564, -75.41369, 38.3291, -75.0864, 38.3291, -75.0864, 37.8564, -75.41369, 37.8564}

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