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This is big entertainment for us---we call it our "Crab TV". Have any of you had the fun of seeing these little guys hard at work? "Ours" are bright red, though, so easy to see. We sit on a driftwood log and watch the antics of these critters. The miles of sand balls they create are just staggering. And feel like a foot massage walking barefoot!
That's kind of fascinating, but why do they make the balls? It must be some way of feeding or I can't imagine spending your whole day/life doing that just for the heck of it - and certainly not to give humans a foot massage feeling.
That's kind of fascinating, but why do they make the balls? It must be some way of feeding or I can't imagine spending your whole day/life doing that just for the heck of it - and certainly not to give humans a foot massage feeling.
" ...... Sand bubbler crabs live in burrows in the sand, where they remain during high tide. When the tide is out, they emerge on to the surface of the sand, and pass the sand through their mouthparts, eating detritus and plankton, and discarding the processed sand as pellets, which cover the beach. The crabs work radially from the entrance to their burrows, which they re-enter as the tide rises and disintegrates the pellets. In each burrow, the crab waits out the high tide in a bubble of air. The material consumed by sand bubbler crabs has a very low concentration of organic matter, which is concentrated by egestion of indigestible material........"
Wow! I would sit and watch that too! Great video. You should post a video of the red ones!
This is "our guy", but that's all I could find on You-Tube. They fold down their eye-stalks and slip sideways into their burrow-holes. Sometimes they mock-fight each other standing straight up. It's fun to see them dig their holes too, carrying out "armloads" of sand and throwing it as far as they can. Amazingly, there are almost no predators for them. No sea gulls here at all.
Last edited by Sand&Salt; 09-01-2018 at 01:42 PM..
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