Sand Sifting Crab

[don103]

Anyone have any Sand Sifting Crabs and actually see them? I bought 5 a couple of days ago and they're really cool little critters, however after putting them into aquarium they darted under the sand and I haven't seem them since. Do they primarily live under the sand or do they occasionally come out?

heres a link to what they look like:

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_1...ategory=4&category_search=63&root_parent_id=4

thanks,
Don

 

[Atarax]

oh we call em sand fleas. i had one in the fuge. never saw anything but its actual feeding apparatus. It died about 2 months back, it got fairly large maybe an inch across.

 

[LeslieH]

I wonder exactly what you got. The picture on the link appear to be one of the temperate water sand crabs in the family Hippidae. There are only a few genera in the family. One - Emerita - is a filter feeder that uses it's feathery antennae to filter particles & small organisms out of the water. They normally live in surf zones & depend on the water rushing past to bring their food. The other genera consist of predators & scavengers that eat small organisms. Emerita stays in the sand with only the antennae showing unless disturbed. The other genera will come to chase prey items.