What's in Season in Florida: Stone Crab, Spiny Lobster and the Rest of the Calendar

October 20, 2026 · 5 min read · My FL Guide

Florida has a food calendar, and October is when it flips. The single most useful date in it is 15 October, the day stone crab season opens in state waters. If you are eating out in Florida in the next six months and you want something that is genuinely in season, start here.

Stone crab: October 15 to May 1

From the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's own stone crab regulations page, read on 9 October 2026: the harvest season in state waters opens October 15 and runs to May 1, closing on May 2. Only the claws are harvested, the minimum claw size is 2 7/8 inches, the daily bag is one gallon of claws per person or two per vessel, whichever is less, and harvesting from egg-bearing crabs is prohibited. Traps may be placed in the water ten days before the season, but cannot be tended until it starts.

Season dates govern the harvest, not the menu. A restaurant can serve stone crab in any month of the year, and plenty do, from claws that came from somewhere else. The claws with a Florida calendar behind them are the winter ones. These are the places our listings name for stone crab:

• Keys Fisheries, 3502 Gulfview Ave, Marathon. A working fish house and dockside shack where the boats unload at the dock you eat on; the listing names fresh stone crab claws in season and the Keys lobster reuben.
• The Stoned Crab, 3101 N Roosevelt Blvd, Key West. Fresh-from-the-dock claws and Key West pink shrimp, with harbour views.
• Conch Republic Seafood Company, 631 Greene St, Key West. On the Key West Bight, listed for fresh stone crabs, shrimp and oysters.
• Lazy Lobster Seafood Restaurant, 102770 Overseas Hwy, Key Largo. A Key Largo house our listing describes as specialising in Florida lobster, stone crab and shrimp.
• Florida's Seafood Bar & Grill, 480 W Cocoa Beach Causeway, Cocoa Beach. Big Florida plates of grouper and shrimp on the causeway, with stone crab named in season.
• Riverside Cafe, 69 Riverside Dr, St Marks. A riverfront cafe in Wakulla County whose listing names stone crab claws and Gulf oysters.
• Pinchers, 15271 McGregor Blvd, Fort Myers. The crab-shack chain's Fort Myers spot on the water, with stone crab claws on the list.
• Joe's Stone Crab, 11 Washington Ave, Miami Beach. A Miami Beach landmark that our listing describes as open for stone crab season and closed when it ends.
• GG's Waterfront, 606 N Ocean Dr, Hollywood. An Intracoastal steak-and-seafood room listed for its stone crab and its marina views.

Florida lobster: August 6 to March 31

The spiny lobster, which menus in the Keys call Florida lobster, has a regular season from August 6 to March 31 in state waters, again per FWC: the carapace must be larger than 3 inches, the daily bag is 6 per person for Monroe County and Biscayne National Park and 12 for the rest of Florida, and taking egg-bearing females is prohibited. FWC also runs a two-day sport season on the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday of July, which its page dates as July 28 and 29 for 2027.

• Florida Keys Steak and Lobster House, 3660 Overseas Hwy, Marathon. A Marathon institution pairing Maine and Florida lobster with steaks.
• Key Largo Fisheries Backyard Cafe, 1313 Ocean Bay Dr, Key Largo. A casual cafe behind a working fisheries, listed for lobster rolls and fresh-catch sandwiches at waterside picnic tables.
• The Clam Shack, 2400 Estero Blvd, Fort Myers Beach. New England-style, with lobster rolls, fried clams and chowder.
• Keys Fisheries, Marathon, again: the lobster reuben is the signature order in our listing.

Bay scallops: a zoned season, and this year two zones are shut

Bay scallops are the exception that teaches the rule, because their season is set by zone rather than statewide. FWC's bay scallop page, read on 9 October 2026, currently shows the 2026 season for the Gulf County zone closed to harvest, and the Pasco zone closed to harvest effective August 6, 2026. Recreational harvesters need a Florida saltwater licence unless they are exempt, or a no-cost shoreline licence if they are wading from shore to collect them. If you see bay scallops advertised in Florida, asking where they were harvested is a fair question, and the answer tells you whether they came from an open zone.

Year-round, and worth ordering anyway

Our own listings treat stone crab, spiny lobster and bay scallops as the seasonal three. Everything else on this list is a year-round offering, which is exactly how the restaurants present it.

• The Hurricane Oyster Bar & Grill, 100 Market St, Apalachicola. An oyster house in the town that built its name on them, serving local oysters, Gulf seafood and crab.
• Indian Pass Raw Bar, 8391 County Rd 30A, Port St Joe. A bayside raw bar serving oysters, shrimp and grouper.
• Up the Creek Raw Bar, 313 Water St, Apalachicola. A waterfront raw bar in the old oyster town.
• Peg Leg Pete's, 2930 Scenic Hwy 98, Pensacola Beach. An oyster bar steps from the sand, with po'boys and cold beer.
• Rusty's Seafood and Oyster Bar, 628 Glen Cheek Dr, Cape Canaveral. A Port Canaveral institution where the raw bar is shucked to order, alongside grouper, shrimp and the chowder.
• Dixie Crossroads, 1475 Garden St, Titusville. The house that put Titusville's rock shrimp on the map: rock shrimp in quantity, plus corn fritters, and the classic stop after the Space Center or Playalinda Beach.
• Deep Lagoon Seafood and Oyster House, 8777 Tamiami Trl N, Naples, one of several Deep Lagoon locations in our listings, with oysters on the half shell, peel-and-eat shrimp and crab cakes.

How to read a seafood menu in season

• Ask where the claws came from. Florida's stone crab season is a state-waters fact, and a menu can legally serve claws from elsewhere in any month.
• Watch the units. Stone crab is sold by the claw and by size, and it is usually priced at market, which means the board changes with the boats.
• Order the local thing rather than the imported one. In the Keys that is usually the lobster, on the Gulf coast it is usually the oysters and the grouper.
• If a menu is boasting about bay scallops, ask the zone question. Two Florida zones are closed this year.

Every restaurant here has a full card in My FL Guide with its address and directions, so you can sort the Dining tab by distance and see what is close to the water you are standing on.