Florida is the most popular place associated with stone crabs, especially in the Florida Keys, but it has other territories as well. Where you find these delicious little beasts:
Main Stone Crab Quarter in Florida
Due to its tropical waters and appropriate habitat, Florida is indeed the ultimate center for harvesting stone crabs. From October to May in every year, seafood lovers and fishermen have a lot to experience during Florida’s stone crab season. This because of the shallow water with seagrass beds along its coast that provides a good environment for stone crab harvesting.
Other Places
Apart from being known as the major source of the animal, there are other areas that one can get them around Gulf Coast and Atlantic Ocean. Some states where they are harvested include:
Texas: There is another region where they can be found which is Texas coast of Mexico.
Louisiana: The state’s waters also have stone crabs same as Texas.
South Carolina and Georgia: Being smaller than Florida, these states have some fisheries for Stone Crabs too.
Caribbean And Beyond
Apart from The United States, Bahamas and some parts of Caribbean Sea are their habitats too. These regions possess similar environmental conditions that favor life cycle of animals such as this.
Sustainable Harvesting Techniques
Stone crab population growth remains stable due to an environmentally friendly method employed by all those people who harvest these creatures; they only take off their claws and put them back into water thus releasing them back into wild. This helps enable regeneration and survival of species since it is applied everywhere that has forms of clawed crustaceans.
Summary
Even though Florida is definitely considered home for stone crabs (which they surely are), you will also find them distributed throughout various locations located on the Gulf Coast, along the Atlantic coastline or dotted across Caribbean islands. Therefore while Florida Stone Crabs might be more famous you’ll eat this seafood delicacy from many other places some even in globe seas like basin. Enjoy your cracking!