Gulf bounty: Stone crabs now on the menu

Photo by QUENTIN ROUX, Staff

Pedro Rives, a long-serving employee at Capri Fisheries, is swathed in steam as he cooks the first catch of the new season in a large stainless steel bucket.

Photo by QUENTIN ROUX, Staff

Fresh claws look scrumptious, even in the shell.

Steam ‘em gently until they change color, then eat them warm with hot butter or chilled with mustard sauce.

These, says Mike Nojunas of Paradise Seafood & Gourmet Market, are basically the only two logical ways to enjoy Florida’s unique seafood delicacy — stone crabs.

Or, more specifically, stone crab claws.

“That’s how to appreciate their full flavor,” said Nojunas, who’s hoping that a bumper harvest this year will keep prices fairly reasonable ... and customers happy.

The same goes for Antonio Almazan, manager of Capri Fisheries on both the Isles of Capri and Goodland.

Stone crab season opened Wednesday, and even before the first boats had arrived with their tasty bounty of claws, Almazan was touting a figure of about 150,000 to 200,000 pounds as a satisfactory 2008-9 haul.

“It’s totally about supply and demand,” Almazan said of pricing through the season, which runs Oct. 15 through May 16, 2009.

Almazan relies on a fleet of about 16 independent crabbers for his supplies, which he distributes mainly to the affiliated Truluck’s chain of restaurants (mainly in Texas).

He does supply some local restaurants and wholesalers, though, and also operates a small retail outlet at the Goodland location.

Nojunas said he gets his supply mostly from local small crabbers, and some from the East Coast.

He said he’s hoping for a ballpark price of about $25 a pound for the product.

Local crab boats ply a radius of about 35 miles in the Gulf, setting out before dawn and returning the same day to enable the crab claws to be cooked quickly and then chilled on site to prevent the meat from sticking to the shells, Almazan said.

Florida stone crabs prefer the bottoms of bays, grass flats, oyster reefs, and rock jetties where they can burrow or find refuge from predators, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission information.

With a lifespan of about 7 to 8 years, the stone crab loses its limbs easily to escape from predators or tight spaces, but the limbs will grow back.

During harvesting, when a claw is broken in the right place, the wound will quickly heal itself and very little blood is lost.

Thus, the stone crab is every bit a renewable food source.

It takes about a year for the claw to grow back to its normal size, and each time the crab molts, the new claw grows larger.

The larger of the two claws is called the “crusher claw”. The smaller claw is called the “pincer claw”.

If both claws are legal size (at least 2.75 inches) they may both be taken, although this is not recommended because it leaves the crab defenseless and unable to acquire food.

Traps, secured to buoys, are made either of wood or plastic, and are generally baited with fish heads and pigs feet.