Stone Crab Season Opens Oct. 15

Stone crab season opens Thursday, Oct. 15, and runs through May 1. Starting that week, claws start showing up again in fish-market cases and on menus from Cortez down to Venice.

It's one of the stranger harvests out there. Crabbers keep only the claws, which have to measure at least 2 7/8 inches, and the crab goes back in the water, where it grows a new claw in about a year. The claws get cooked right away and are served cold, cracked, with mustard sauce or melted butter. You order by grade: medium, large, jumbo, or colossal, which runs about two claws to the pound.

This is an old tradition on our stretch of coast. "Papa" Jack Moore started harvesting stone crabs out of Cortez in 1927, and his family went on to open Moore's Stone Crab on Longboat Key, which served claws from 1967 until it was sold in 2015. Walt's Fish Market goes back even further in Sarasota's seafood story, to Claus Wallin's arrival in 1918 with the Ringling Circus. Today fourth-generation owner Brett Wallin runs his own traps, and claws go from his steamer to the South Tamiami Trail market fast.

The first couple of weeks depend on the catch, so call ahead before you make a special trip. Figure about a pound per person, ask them to crack the claws for you, and don't skip the mustard sauce.

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