Adriatic Biocontrol: Octopus vs. Blue Crab Simulator

Zone 1: Deep Rocky Reef
Crevices & High Salinity

Zone 2: Seagrass Flats
Transition Nursery

Zone 3: Sandy Lagoon
Soft Silt & Low Salinity

Crab Density (m²) 14.5 +2.1% / mo

Octopus Population 0 Hatchlings unreleased

Mussel / Clam Biomass 32% Severely depleted

Predation Efficacy 0% Reef 88% | Lagoon 9%

Spatial Predation Breakdown Real-time

Rocky Reef (Zone 1) 0 kills

Seagrass Flats (Zone 2) 0 kills

Sandy Lagoon (Zone 3) 0 kills

Burrowed / Hidden Crabs 48%

Biocontrol Insight: Octopuses (*Octopus vulgaris*) require hard crevice shelters to ambush prey. In sandy Adriatic lagoons, invasive blue crabs (*Callinectes sapidus*) bury in deep silt where octopuses cannot stalk them and tolerate warmer, brackish waters that octopus hatchlings avoid.

Ecosystem Legend

Blue Crab (Invasive)

Octopus Hatchling

Adult Octopus

Rocky Crevice

Silt Burrow Spot