Dead Stone Crab

dead stone crab, originally uploaded by Junior Naturalist.

Florida Stone Crab
Menippe mercenaria

 

Dead Stone Crab washed up on the beach in Sanibel Island. Local crabbers harvest the claws by removing one (or both) and throwing the crab back into the Gulf of Mexico to regrow them. It takes about 1 year for the crab to regrow a new claw.