What are these things in the sand?

[Franny]

Thanks for posting sand flea sighting! The husband has been looking for them for bait and now we know they are here!

 

[Aleigh]

lol well I just wanted to add I knew a fella that made his living collecting live sand fleas.. and selling them to the bait shops.. He was early out... like 4:00am... collected 2 full buckets... delivered them to the local bait shop by 6am and that was his work for the day.. actually made a living on it.. charming fella.. The first time I saw them was in his bucket.. just full of em.. I thought they looked like some sort of pre-historic creature...ughly! No wait... fugly...

 

[missourigrl]

I'm just curious now...do they only come out at a certain time of the year? I can't say I ever remember seeing them. The last three years we've visited in September. This is latest we've visited however.

I went walking along the beach early this evening and they were out again. Not only did I see the mature ones but thousands of babies!

 

[Kurt]

I'm just curious now...do they only come out at a certain time of the year? I can't say I ever remember seeing them. The last three years we've visited in September. This is latest we've visited however.

I went walking along the beach early this evening and they were out again. Not only did I see the mature ones but thousands of babies!

They are more prevalent in the summer. They tend to appear in herds.

Many stretches of beach that are popular with fisherman they get cleaned out for bait. Looks like you hit on a breeding ground.

 

[bluecat]

I thought it was funny when I saw an add on here from Stinky's selling sand fleas, now I see what they are.

 

[rblessed1031]

My daughter and I were out yesterday and were picking them up. One seemed to give birth on her. She was holding a big one and all of a sudden it moved and an almost microscopic one appeared under the bigger one. The big one was almost the size of my two thumbs put together and the "baby" was solid white and about the size of a tine of a fork. We were wondering if the baby had to be with the mama to survive. I googled them to find out, and realized that they are actually Mole Crabs, but we have always heard them called sand fleas. Learn something new everyday.

 

[Koa]

You can probably find more info on them if you search by their real common name: Mole Crab

"sand fleas" are really something else, but everyone in NW Florida calls Mole Crabs, "Sand Fleas."

 

[Lady D]

We were on the beach this morning around 9am. We noticed lots of these little crab like things buried in the sand where the water washed ashore. They had little feelers or antennae that stuck above the sand and every once in a while several would come up to the surface of the sand and scoot out closer to the water and bury themselves back in the sand. They were maybe 2" long and white/gray in color. They weren't shaped flat like most crabs, instead they were more oval shaped. What are they...anyone know?

What I have always called sand crabs.

 

[fishheadspin]

When I did a google search for "sand flea" I found some images of them. I guess that is what they are. Are they harmful in any way? What do they do?

they are extremely harmful to the pompano population when placed on a gold hook and cast out along the first bar!