MARYLAND BRIEFING

CHESAPEAKE BAY

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Mitten Crab Sparks Worry

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A small crab native to Asia has been discovered in the Chesapeake Bay for the third time in two years, raising concern that it might become established in local waters, scientists said.

The Chinese mitten crab, so called because of a clump of bristles that make its claws look like furry mittens, was caught by a waterman Friday morning off Chesapeake Beach. That site, in Calvert County, was about 40 miles to the south of the Patapsco River, where the other two crabs were caught in 2005 and last year.

Scientists worry about the mitten crab because of the damage it caused after becoming established in Europe and on the West Coast. In those places, the crabs multiplied rapidly, damaging embankments with their burrowing and clogging pipes with their sheer numbers.

But scientists said yesterday that there is still no cause for alarm in the Chesapeake: Because all the crabs were male, there was no evidence that they are reproducing in the bay. Instead, authorities said, it is possible that all three were brought there accidentally, perhaps discharged with ballast water by ships heading to Baltimore Harbor.

"There's no alarm bells," said Lynn Fegley of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "Although it means certainly there are some animals here."

-- David A. Fahrenthold

PRINCE GEORGE'S CRIME

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Man Charged in Fatal Shooting

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Prince George's County police have charged a 31-year-old man in the shooting death last week of a 45-year-old District man.

Police said Eviaya Quarles of the 8800 block of Hawthorne Lane shot Lionel D. Lindsay in the hallway of Quarles's apartment building on Hawthorne Lane about 8:30 p.m. May 16. Investigators say Quarles fired on Lindsay after Lindsay brandished a handgun and made threats against Quarles. Lindsay, of the 200 block of Bates Street NW in the District, was pronounced dead at the scene.