Can you find sand fleas in Texas? What do they look like? Keep reading to discover more about sand fleas in Texas, including how to find and use them.
How Do You Identify Sand Fleas?
At first glance, sand fleas look like really small crabs or shrimp. Sand fleas burrow under the sand while feeding, so they are often hard to spot. Most sand fleas have hard brown, white, or orange shells protecting their soft bodies. Sand fleas have 10 legs, which they use to burrow themselves into the sand. They also have two forked appendages that poke out of the backs of their bodies. Sand fleas, as their name suggests, blend into the sand, which helps them hide from predators. Interestingly, sand fleas in Texas are a lot smaller than sand fleas in other places.
Sand Fleas: Harvesting
Before grabbing a shovel and starting to look for fresh sand fleas, know that there aren’t many in Texas. Sand fleas are more common on the East Coast. However, this doesn’t mean that they’re impossible to find. There are two options when it comes to Haresting sand fleas in Texas. First, you can purchase them live or frozen in a bait shop. Second, you can also find them on local Texas beaches. They are more common in Galveston, compared to other Texas cities. If you choose to hunt for sand fleas on your own, start by gathering the right materials. You don’t need special tools, but some people prefer using sand flea rakes that capture these small crustaceans. All you really need is a bucket, a shovel, and your hands. Start by looking at the ground when the waves wash on shore. Sand fleas sometimes come up when the waves crash, forcing them to scurry and burrow quickly underneath the sand. As large colonies move quickly to bury themselves, they create a ‘v’ shape in the sand. When you spot this, start digging! They don’t burrow deeply, with one scoop of your hand, you should have a few live sand fleas, trying to run away. Rinse the sand off of them in the water and place them in the buckets. You can also use a sifter to get rid of the sand.
Sand Fleas: Uses
Most people use sand fleas as bait when they are surf fishing, but you can also cook these small crustaceans into a delicious and healthy dish. Sand fleas work as bait because many common fish consume them including pompano. When you are fishing in the surf and shallow end of the beach, you have a higher chance of finding fish that feed off of sand fleas. They especially like the bright orange eggs attached to the bottom of female sand fleas. A word of advice for anglers using sand fleas, it’s better to use female sand fleas since they are larger. This is the same when you are cooking sand fleas. Female sand fleas have more meat and flavor. However, when you cook sand fleas, you need to clean and prepare them properly. Sometimes, they carry parasites that hide well underneath their hard shells. Cooking sand fleas is a lot like cooking shrimp or small crabs. All you need is some kind of fat like oil or butter and your favorite seasonings. Since they are so small, they cook quickly, taking about two minutes per side. Sand fleas turn bright orange or pink as they cook, like shrimp.
Predators
Fish aren’t picky eaters, especially those thriving in the surf. The most common fish that eat mole crabs are pompano, permit, sheephead, black drum, and croakers. Not only do fish eat sand fleas, but so do birds. Water and shore birds dive into the surf and sand, looking for this crunchy snack. Mole crabs are quiet animals that don’t bite and hardly fight back, instead, they use their sandy color to try to hide from predators.
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