Crustaceans - crabs, shrimps, mantis shrimp - Sandy Hook, NJ - Brookdale College Ocean Institute

Sandy Hook's Crustaceans
Subtidal | Tidal | Semi-terrestrial
Check out this neat hermit crab video/audio clip on the boat,
and feeding and resting behavior in the aquarium


Crustaceans are one of the most interesting groups of animals at the shore. Barnacles are a Crustacean and different species can be found on wooden pilings, boat bottoms, rocks and sea turtles. Visit Field Notes for more information.	(Above) A close-up view of the top of a closed barnacle reveals its large scutum and small pointed tergum which are useful in identification. Learn more about barnacles growing on crabs and horseshoe crabs.
Barnacle larvae settle out of the plankton early, around mid-April. To learn why local boaters launch their boats after Memorial Day, click here.	Two open anemones (on the right )wait for plankton to drift to them, while the open barnacle (on the left) actively strains the water.
The Mantis Shrimp (Squilla empusa) can get 10 inches long, and is a peculiar and aggressive burrowing shrimp that can cut your fingers with its front claws and sharp carapace.	Our four most common true crabs (Blue, rock, calico and spider) and a horseshoe "crab."
	(Left) The grass shrimp is one of the most important creatures in the bay. It is omnivorous and preys on detritus, small worms and even baby fishes. It hides among the grasses and pilings and is eaten by many larger creatures. Its cousin the sand shrimp Crangon. (Below, left) burrows in the sand for protection. (Below, right) Skeleton shrimp (Caprella) move like inch-worms across rocks and seaweed. Some species live on crabs, sea stars, turtles, hydroids and flotsam. To read about them, click here.
Sand Shrimp (Crangon)	Skeleton shrimp (Caprella)
Close-up of a skeleton shrimp.	(Above) The flat-clawed hermit crab (Pagurus) occupying a moon snail shell.
"Swimming" crabs like the blue claw have paddles for hind legs. (More on blue crabs.)	Female blue crab (Callinectes)
	Spider crabs (Libinia) are one of our largest and a cousin of the giant Alaska king crab. They are "walking" crabs and lack a paddle. Females conceal their orange eggs (Or "berries") with their belly flap
Although grass shrimp (Palaemonetes) are small, they will feed on baby flounders and bottom invertebrates like worms.
Crustaceans and their larvae are abundant in plankton samples. To see plankton. from all four seasons in Sandy Hook Bay, click here.	(Above) Tiny scuds or side-swimmers (Gammarus) are abundant among rocks and seaweed. This one is dwarfed by an inch-long isopod (Idotea).
Don't worry. Giant isopods like this are only found on the deep ocean bottom.	Another sleleton shrimp under the microscope.
	Their smaller cousins, Edotea isopods (Left) are fairly common in the bay in early summer. (Below, left) In the shallow waters of Sandy Hook Bay we find tiny "tubicuoous" amphipods (Corophium) and their mats of tubes (Below, right)
"Tubicolous" amphipod (Corophium) tubes (Right)
Back in the Sandy Hook aquarium, hermit crabs and tenacious mud crabs (Neopanopeus) captured on boat trip scour the coral for food.