First records of blue crab Callinectes sapidus (Rathbun 1869) on the north-western Black Sea shelf

Recently, there have been regular reports and notes of blue crab C. sapidus (Rathbun, 1896) findings in different regions of the Black Sea and Azov Sea. There is an assumption that this species will be common for the Black Sea benthic fauna. There are already more than fifteen previously published reported records of the blue crab from the Black Sea and Azov Sea. In 2019 three individuals of blue crab (one male and two female) were captured by Khizhnyak dredge and bottom beam trawls in the north-western part of the Black Sea (Ukrainian part). This is the first record for the C. sapidus from this region.