Photo courtesy of the Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory
When you dig your toes into the sand where the waves wash in, you may feel a mole crab digging to find its way back to its sandy home.
Also called Mole Crabs, Beach Fleas, Sand Bugs, Sand crabs and Sand Fiddlers, the Atlantic Sand crab is a small (1 inch of less), gray-tan colored crab with very short legs that they use to dig down backwards into the sand. Found along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, this mole-like crab will burrow backwards into the sand and extend its antennae aboveground. This enables it to snag and filter algae and plankton as the waves wash overhead. Its sandy color helps it to camouflage itself, allowing it to hide from such predators as shorebirds and gulls, Blue and Ghost crabs and some fish. Surf fishermen prize this crab as bait for Pompano, Redfish, Sheepshead and Whiting.
