Description:
The red blue crab, also known as Bocourt's swimming crab, is occasionally observed in the Indian River Lagoon.  Carapace color is typically olive green, but may be shades of brown, gray or green, sometimes with variable purplish-red markings.  There are 4 frontal teeth on the carapace between the eyes.  Chelae and the carapace are smooth, with the fingers of the chelae heavily toothed.  The fifth leg is modified into a paddle shape, as in all members of the swimming crab family.  Large males may measure over 5 inches in carapace width; while females measure only 4.8 inches.  The chelae are red to dark red-brown, and the joints often have a purple-red cast.  Legs are typically red above, with shades of maroon, yellow and olive green below in the underbelly region.

Habitat:
Red blue crabs inhabit shallow, brackish waters and generally prefer a mud or mud-sand bottom type.  Females move to more saline waters after mating.  This species appears to be more tolerant of polluted and stagnant conditions than other species in this genus.

Similar Species:
Callinectes bocourti may be confused with related crabs such as the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, the lesser blue crab, C. similis, and the ornate blue crab, C. ornatus, which are all common in east central Florida.  C. bocourti may be distinguished from other species based on body color, which is reddish in C. bocourti, but tends toward blue in the other species.  C. bocourti can also be distinguished from C. sapidus based on the frontal teeth on the carpace.  While C. sapidus has only 2 frontal teeth between the eyes, C. bocourti, as well as the other Callinectes species mentioned above, each have 4 teeth. 
 

Range:
Red blue crabs typically range from Jamaica and Belize south to Brazil.  They are occasionally found in the waters of the Mississippi River, Florida, and North Carolina due to their drifting north on warm ocean currents.