The Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) is a native of China and Korea. Pathways of introduction into new biogeographic regions include the live seafood trade, release via ballast water, and ship hull fouling. The Chinese mitten crab has been reported in the United States in several locations including the Great Lakes, the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest, and California. In most places where the Chinese mitten crab has been reported in the United States, it has not become established. However, the Chinese mitten crab has become a well-known and unwelcome resident of San Francisco Bay and its tributaries with the population increasing in number and distribution since its first capture by commercial fishermen in 1992.

As is the case with most invasives, the Chinese mitten crab is tolerant of a wide range of hydrological conditions. The species adapts to varying water temperatures and salinities and tolerates highly altered waterways and elevated pollutant concentrations. The catadromous Chinese mitten crab is highly fecund. Females can produce 250,000 to one million eggs in one reproduction event. Chinese mitten crabs are identified by patches of dense hair located near the white tips of the crab's pincers. The carapace measures approximately three inches in width and has four anterior spines. Legs can be up to twice as long as the width of the carapace. The species is omnivorous and feeds on plants (as a juvenile) and animals (as an adult).

Negative impacts caused by this species include: degradation of estuarine and freshwater food webs through predation and competition; impairment of commercial fishing operations through damage to and clogging of fishing nets; and damage to water diversion and industrial water use facilities through blockage of intakes and screens. The Chinese mitten crab's burrowing behavior causes bank erosion and destabilization of dikes and levees. In its native range, the Chinese mitten crab has had a negative impact on rice crops through the consumption of young rice shoots and damage to rice field levees. Should this species become established along the Gulf Coast of the United States where rice is a primary agricultural crop, similar problems could arise.

The Chinese mitten crab is recognized as one of the world's top 100 invaders by the Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), part of the Species Survival Commission of The World Conservation Union (IUCN). Importation, sale, and transfer into surface waters are prohibited in several states including Florida and Texas in the CSWGCIN region. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service includes all species of mitten crab (Eriocheir sp.) on the federal List of Injurious Wildlife (50 CFR 16).