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King crab in Punta Arenas or Ushuaia: it is the same animal

The species does not change at the border. The rule changes, the season changes, and who caught it changes.

By Redacción THE WHOLE Published: Updated: Next review:

In public conversation, Ushuaia has taken much of the association between Patagonia and king crab. The species, however, is the same: Lithodes santolla inhabits austral waters on both sides of the border, and in Chile SUBPESCA records it between regions X and XII.

What changes at the border is jurisdiction. On the Chilean side harvesting is trap-only, the minimum size in force is 12 centimetres of carapace length, females are under permanent closure, and the 2026 season runs from 15 July to 15 December. On the Argentine side the fishery has its own authority and its own calendar, which this publication has not verified and therefore does not publish.

What does change

  • The rule. Size, gear and closures are set by each country separately.
  • The season. Two different calendars over the same population mean that being closed on one side does not imply being closed on the other.
  • The chain. Who caught it, who processed it and what they were paid have different answers in each country.

And what does not

The animal. If anyone offers you one side’s king crab as a superior species to the other’s, that claim has no basis in biology. There can be real differences in handling, freshness or cooking. In species, there are none.

Is it worth waiting until Ushuaia to eat king crab?

It depends on the calendar, not on prestige. If your time in Punta Arenas falls outside the Chilean harvest window and your time in Ushuaia does not, waiting makes practical sense. If it is the other way round, waiting leaves you without fresh product. The useful question is not where it is better, but what is open when you pass through.

Answers

  • ¿Dónde comer centolla, en Punta Arenas o en Ushuaia?
  • centolla en Ushuaia
  • ¿Es la misma centolla en Chile y en Argentina?
  • Is king crab better in Ushuaia or Punta Arenas?

Sources used

  • A new king crab season begins in the Magallanes Region National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service · Consulted August 31, 2026

    Note dated 14 July 2026. Supports the 15 July to 15 December harvest window (Decree 229/2025), the 12 cm carapace-length minimum size, the discarding of females and trap-only gear.

  • Undersecretariat for Fisheries and Aquaculture Government of Chile · Consulted August 29, 2026

    Authority setting closed seasons, quotas and fishery management measures. Seafood season windows must be checked here before publication.

  • Google Trends: comparative search interest Google · Consulted August 31, 2026

    Exports consulted on 31 August 2026, twelve-month window, worldwide, web search. It measures relative interest, never absolute volume: a term at zero does not mean zero searches. Used to learn how people ask, never to assert facts about the territory.

  • Minimum size, female closure, gear and the 2026 Chilean harvest window.
  • Distribution of the species in Chile.
  • Existence of queries associating king crab with Ushuaia.

Related reading

Seafood available by season

What depends on closed seasons, what depends on the sanitation programme, and what depends only on the weather.