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Like most people I'm fascinated by the sea and love spending time at the beach scanning and exploring in the hopes of finding beautiful treasures that only the beach can offer. While at the beach I look for shells, driftwood, seaweed, sea glass, pebbles, sand dollars, etc. The colors, shapes, textures & uniqueness of these objects give me an unexplainable rush. At such moments I'm in total awe and am lost in the world of enormous beauty.
Apart from looking for the treasures at the beach I also look for other unique phenomenons. You'll be surprised at the things you'll find if you looked .
The small hollow balls on the beach had left me wondering for a long time until I learned about the creature that was responsible for it - The Sand bubbler crabs.
These awesome little creatures live in burrows on the sandy beaches.Everyday, during the low tide they leave their burrows looking for food.
It was interesting to learn that they look for food radially around their burrows.
Here's what they do. They pass the sand through their mouths to sift out tiny food particles and other nutrients. Once done they spit out the nutrient free sand ball. It is believed that the ball of sand indicates to them that they've already filtered out the nutrients. What a clever idea to be efficiently productive!
It saves them time because they have a very small window of time before the tide comes in.
Each crab rolls out 12 balls a minute. (approximate)
They also keep a clear path to their burrow to escape from sudden dangers and to ensure that they are not lost on the vast beach.
Look for them in the beaches of the Indo-pacific region.
Aren't the Sand bubbler crabs amazing?
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