Report #80 - Report: Mole Crabs (Emerita spp.)

Mole Crabs (Emerita spp.) on May 22, 2008

Submitter does not have a specimen

Description of specimen

See the video here:
http://blip.tv/file/927998/

Commentary

Please let me know what it is.

Reporter
May 22, 2008, 5:53 a.m.

Thanks for the submission video! What you found is commonly called the Pacific mole crab or sand crab (Scientific Name - Emerita analoga). They spend most of their time buried in the sand along beaches moving in and out with the crashing waves so they can be hard to spot.

Here's a link to the Monterey Bay Aquarium page on these crabs
http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/living_species/default.asp?hOri=1&inhab=528 and a fact sheet on the same
http://www.farallones.org/documents/sandcrab.pdf

Robyn Draheim
May 22, 2008, 6:12 a.m.

Location

Walking near the water's edge at Cannon Beach, we saw this creature. I've lived in Oregon all my life, been to the beach many times, and even taken several Biology courses, but have never seen anything like it.
What seemed most odd was that it just sat there as other bugs crawled on it, and it didn't seem to want to head back into the water.
It had a hard shell, which was formed of two wing-like pieces (similar to a beetle, but attached/bonded). I forgot to count the legs, but it definitely had two appendages up front, like mandibles.
Here's a video I took:
http://blip.tv/file/927998/

Mole Crabs (Emerita spp.) on May 22, 2008

Description of specimen

Commentary

Location

Expert Reviewer