Crabs from Florida taste like amonia?

I harvested several crab claws in Florida a couple of weeks ago. I sat down to eat them tonight but could not eat one particular kind. I got them on a jetty near Panama City in the surf. They were eating on seaweed of some sort. I only took one claw from each, not entire crabs. The largest ones were kind of maroon color. Any suggestions on cooking and not having them taste like Amonia? I still have a few in the freezer.

Woah.. OK.. first question is what type of crab. If its stone your WAY out of season which is very illegal.

As for preparation, it should be done as soon as possible to the time of catch.

From original Poster:
This was my 2nd post 1st was "Any one From S.C.?" posted the same day.
Pretty rough welcome to this forum.

http://myfwc.com/marine/Regulations/SaltwaterRegsSummary_200401.pdf
FYI: The only regulated crabs I see are Blue & Stone.
I could hardly see how either of these could be described as
"kind of maroon color."
Also I may be wrong on this but I did not Know Blues or Stone Crabs could be said to be "eating on seaweed of some sort"

But I would really like to have an answer to my original question "Any suggestions on cooking and not having them taste like Amonia?" The amonia was not just a wiff but strong enough to clean floors with.

Welcome to the forum.



^^ Example of a Stone Crab at Destin Jeddies^^

Is this similar to your 'amonia crab'?

Normally, when seafood goes bad it develops an ammonia type smell. I don't know how the product was handled. In my opinion, if you are harvesting claws I would strongly recommend having it on ice within 30 minutes of removal.

I may be off on the time frame, but I am thinking like a food safety professional here.

Welcome to the boards.

TwoBit

TwoBitTxn:

Normally, when seafood goes bad it develops an ammonia type smell.

Click to expand...

I don't think all seafood does this. Mollusks do, but as far as crustaceans, I've seen thousands of dead shrimp at all stages of decomposition and have never smelled ammonia.
I have smelled ammonia on conch after taking them from the freezer and thawing them in water. They were fresh frozen. I chopped them into pieces and washed them in vinegar. The smell was gone and the ceviche tasted great.

Thanks for the suggestions and comments.
I snorkeled for around 2 hours that day so some of the claws would have been in the water for 2 hours some for as little as a few min.'s in my bag. I immediatly put them on ice when I got out of the water. So I'm not sure about the bad seafood theory?
As for the ID of the crab. They definetly were not Stone Crabs as they did not have black tips on the claws. But I did learn something. And so will now eat Crab "Crow".
http://www.floridamarine.org/engine/directory_process.asp?id=21196
As you can see and I have learned there are Maroon Stone Crabs in Florida. I am still not sure if they inhabit the waters off Panama City though. The map on the above link would suggest not.
The above picture from Destin does look Purple, but so do the rocks. I was there in Destin on the same trip, snorkled the Jettys and do not remember the rocks being Purple though?
I called a State biologist in Panama City and he was of no help on ID. Said he had never dove or snorkled the Jettys. But said he would pass the ID question on. If I get anything I will post.
I am now very curios as to what kind of crab they are.

The picture was mostly green when I took it, photoshopped to the best of my ability to get the colors back in - I'm not much of a PSer nor an UW photographer but I try.

Another ScubaBoarder(SeaYoda) dives Destin regularly and is ahellovalot better than me at UW photography - he also has a better camera available to him. I hope he doesn't mind that I link his picture here. http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/500/26242stone_crab-med.jpg This is a much better photograph of a Stonecrab in Destin. Destin is only about 45min - 1 hour from Panama City, I wouldn't call it much of a stretch that they have a similar species of crab.

Tell your friend nice photo of the Stone Crab.
But Heh I wasn't dissin your photo. It's pretty good just thought the color was a little off.
It's just these are not Stone Crabs I am speaking of. I'm home now and took another look at some claws in the freezer and they have spikes on the segment closest to the body. Stone Crabs purple,brown or "Maroon" don't. Also no black tips. Wish I had a digital camera and I would post photos.
Did you take a look at the link to the State site w/ pics of the 2 types of Stone Crab and distribution map? Whats your opinion do y'all have both species of Stone Crab in Destin?