Credit for the photo and the essential information: Samart Detsathit (Thailand)

Review:  Abdel Rahman El Gamal (the site founder)

The sand crab or mole crab which are known as “Hippoids” belong to the super family “Hippoidea”. These small crabs of 1-5 cm in size are adopted to burrow into sandy beaches near the water throughout most of the world. They are mostly scavengers, eating food and diatoms that wash up on the shore.  Their ability to dig in the sand is a means of protection against possible predators which could be fish, water birds, shore birds, otters and sea lions. The specimens shown in the photo were collected from Thai Mueang beach, Phang-nga bay, Thailand.

Collected crabs could be used as bait or prepared for human consumption in a form of soup broth or as deep fried.