Some Relations of Temperature Acclimation and Salinity to Thermal Tolerance of the Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus

The 48-hour median thermal tolerance limits of adult and juvenile blue crabs in relation to salinity and preceding acclimation temperature were estimated from experimental data. Crabs were less tolerant to temperature extremes at low salinity, and at both low (6.8‰) and high (34‰) salinities, the upper and lower tolerance limits increased as the acclimation temperature increased. Limits for adults and juveniles were similar.