This crab lives around rocky areas or oyster reefs and burrows into the sand. It is dark brownish-red with gray interspersed. Claws are hinged, very dark, and banded with red and yellow. All its legs are used for walking, and it has very strong pinchers used to crush oysters. Stone crabs are fished near jetties, oyster reefs or other rocky areas just as for blue crabs.
Stone crabs have small bodies and only the claws are eaten.
To be kept, claws must be two and one-half inches long, measured from the tips of the immovable finger to the first joint. Only one legal size claw may be removed and then the crab must be returned immediately to the water. The claws are prepared in the same manner as blue crab claws. Other Crabs Most of the other crabs are either too small or too uncommon to be of economic value. Hermit crabs, ghost crabs, fiddler crabs, and the pygmy gulf crab are only a few of the common ones.