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Old 10-24-2007, 08:26 AM   #8
smilinmatt
Matt Brueckner
 
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Apollo Beach, FL
Age: 52
Posts: 1,243
Re: Stone Crabs - One Claw or Two?

I was hoping someone had some factual data. Not trying to discount anyone's opinions, but so far that's all we've contributed (myself included).

In the FAQ from FWC, I'm curious where that response came from. Most of their response doesn't correspond to what I've seen:

Defending themselves:
The males do seem to be territorial, you never find two large males in the same area, but I don't think they typically kill each other either if they meet. I've never seen a dead crab around another's den. As far as predators go, I've heard adults don't have predators, but in the wintertime, the spotted eagle rays come into our canal, and I've seen them try to "suck" stone crabs out of their holes. I don't think a large eagle ray would have an issue with stone crabs, claws or no claws.

Feeding:
In my experience both watching them from my dock (they use their legs to open oysters, not their claws) and seeing their dens, I don't think they use their claws much for catching or opening food. The shells around their dens aren't broken, just opened.

The things I agree with are that they probably stop feeding for a while, and it certainly takes more energy to replace two claws than one. When you come up on a crab that's already harvested, they're usually partially buried or further in their den than other crabs, but that seems to apply whether they have one claw or none.

My gut feeling is that if you're going to get a limit, the less crabs harvested (taking all legal claws), the less impact on the overall crab population.
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