The Florida stone crab (Menippe mercenaria) is a crab found in the western North Atlantic, from Connecticut to Colombia, including Texas, the Gulf of Mexico, Belize, Mexico, Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas, and the East Coast of the United States. The crab can also be found in and around the salt marshes of South Carolina and Georgia. The closely related species Menippe adina, the gulf stone crab, is sometimes considered a subspecies as they can interbreed to form hybrids, and they are treated as one species for commercial fishing, with their ranges partly overlapping. The two species are believed to have diverged approximately 3 million years ago. The species is widely caught for food.
From Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Is it venomous or poisonous?
We have no record of Florida Stone Crab being toxic, poisonous or venomous. That is not proof that it is safe. Never eat, touch or handle a wild plant, mushroom or animal on the strength of an identification; ask someone qualified.
Easily confused with
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Malacostraca
- Order
- Decapoda
- Family
- Menippidae
- Genus
- Menippe
- Species
- Menippe mercenaria
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