The winner of the fifth annual stone crab eating contest in Florida munched through 25 claws in under 15 minutes.  

Aaron Sutcliffe ate his way to the top in the fifth annual Stone Crab Eating Contest on Saturday in Marathon, winning top honors as the most proficient consumer of Florida Keys stone crab claws.

More than 30 contestants took part in the challenge, celebrating the opening of the annual stone crab claw harvesting season, at Keys Fisheries restaurant.

Each challenger was required to crack and thoroughly eat their way through 25 stone crab claws.

Sutcliffe finished in 14 minutes and 20 seconds,

"In my family if you don't eat the stone crabs fast, you don't get anything," he said. "And I love the things. They're delicious."

Sutcliffe said he uses a butter knife instead of a commercial cracker or mallet, which he claims is his secret weapon.

Competitors included two-person teams as well, and Greg D'Agostino and Rick Palmer, both residents of Marathon, earning top honors with a time of 8 minutes and 50 seconds.

According to reports, about 40 percent of the average of 2.6 million pounds of stone crab claws that are harvested annually, come from waters off the Florida Keys.

The succulent crustacean is considered a renewable resource, since only legal-size claws are harvested, after which the crab is returned to the water to grow new extremities.

Stone crab season runs from October 15 to May 15.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.