Florida Stone Crab

• Its fishery is unique in the world: only one of the claws is taken and the animal is returned alive to the sea, where it regrows it over several moults.
• Its claws are among the most powerful in the crustacean world and allow it to crack thick oyster shells.
• Juveniles and individuals that have lost a claw switch diet until they have regrown it.
• Its fishery is unique in the world: the animal is not taken — one claw is removed and the crab is returned to the sea alive, because it can regenerate it over successive moults.
• Florida's regulations set a minimum claw size and allow at most both claws to be taken, though the recommended practice is to leave it one.
• The sustainability of that system has been studied and qualified: mortality after the mutilation is high, above all if both claws are removed, and regeneration takes several moults to restore the original size.
• Its claw is extraordinarily powerful: it can exert several hundred newtons and is adapted to crushing oyster and snail shells.
• The two claws are asymmetrical: one, slimmer, for holding, and the other, massive, for crushing.
• It lives in burrows that it defends aggressively, and the big males monopolise the best refuges.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (crustacean)

Habitat and environment

Hard bottoms, seagrass beds and crevices of the south-eastern United States and the Caribbean

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Menippe mercenaria