The Sand Crab

Ya gotta love it…the Sand Crab! What fun it is on hot summer days to dig in
the sand and find these little guys. I have seen them be as tiny as 1/8” and as big as a couple of inches. They survive very well in this environment because of their coloring and the number of offspring they produce. They are colored light grayish brown and blend in with the sand very well. A female can produce 40,000 eggs within the first year of her life! This Sand Crab was a female. I know this because I could see the mass of bright orange eggs clinging to her tummy. See the flipper like limbs with claws? After a wave has come up on the sand, the Sand Crab uses those to dig backwards into the sand. The Sand Crab ALWAYS moves backwards. Once it is burrowed safely in the sand, only its eyes and antennae stick up in the water. The antennae collect plankton, a group of teeny, tiny plants and animals that float in the water. The Sand Crab eats the plankton. In turn, the Sand Crab is eaten by shore birds and fish. If you walk on the sand in the summer, and you see dozens of V-shaped marks in the sand near the water, you are looking at Sand Crabs waiting for their next plankton meal.


Did you find this useful? If so, you can send a "tip" to my PAYPAL.COM account. My email address is kathomatho@yahoo.com. I will donate 10% of your tip to The Orange County Zoo.