🦀 Blue crab report template
Three versions, one page each. Print the one for your child’s grade. The facts come from the blue crab page, every number with its source.
Grades 1–2
My report: the blue crab
Callinectes sapidus · Grades 1–2
| Length | 9.1 in (23 cm) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | not checked yet: look it up! |
| Weight | 5.3 oz (150 g) |
| Top speed | not checked yet: look it up! |
| How long it lives | 3 to 4 years |
Read about it
The blue crab has a hard shell and two strong claws. Its back legs are flat like paddles, so it can swim. It runs sideways on the others.
It lives in:
It eats:
The coolest thing I learned:
Where my facts came from
- NOAA Fisheries, fisheries.noaa.gov/species/blue-crab, checked 2026-10-30
Grades 3–4
My report: the blue crab
Callinectes sapidus · Grades 3–4
| Length | 9.1 in (23 cm) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | not checked yet: look it up! |
| Weight | 5.3 oz (150 g) |
| Top speed | not checked yet: look it up! |
| How long it lives | 3 to 4 years |
Read about it
A blue crab walks sideways on pointy legs, and its last pair are flat paddles for swimming. Like a lobster, it grows by climbing out of its old shell, and it is soft until the new shell hardens. Grown-up males have bright blue claws, and females have claws with red tips.
Where it lives (its habitat):
What it eats:
How its body helps it live there:
My favorite fact:
A question I still have:
Where my facts came from
- NOAA Fisheries, fisheries.noaa.gov/species/blue-crab, checked 2026-10-30
Grades 5–6
My report: the blue crab
Callinectes sapidus · Grades 5–6
| Length | 9.1 in (23 cm) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | not checked yet: look it up! |
| Weight | 5.3 oz (150 g) |
| Top speed | not checked yet: look it up! |
| How long it lives | 3 to 4 years |
Read about it
Blue crabs live in bays and river mouths, where fresh river water mixes with salty sea water. Their scientific name, Callinectes sapidus, starts with a word that means beautiful swimmer. Baby blue crabs drift in the sea and look nothing like their parents, then settle into grassy beds and marshes that hide them while they grow. Crabs are food for many animals, and fishers catch them in traps, so people protect marshes and seagrass and set limits on how many crabs may be caught.
Habitat and range: where on Earth, and what the place is like:
Diet: what it eats, and what might eat it:
Adaptations: two ways its body or habits help it survive:
Is it in danger? Why or why not?:
Compare it with another animal you know:
Bibliography: write each source below as site, page title, date checked:
Where my facts came from
- NOAA Fisheries, fisheries.noaa.gov/species/blue-crab, checked 2026-10-30