Sand Flea
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About a Sand Flea
A sand flea is not one animal, really, but instead is a name for animals that all live around, or on, a beach. If you have seen black dots jumping out of seaweed on the shore, don't worry yourself, these are sand fleas. Their average length is about a half inch, and they may spend some time under the top of sandy beaches. They emerge at night to find food to live on. They feed on debris from the ocean.
A sand flea won't be a problem to your dog or yourself, and they won't ride home on your dog and get inside your house, like the cat and dog fleas we know of. Sand fleas are marine animals, and can't survive if they're on land for any length of time.
Sand fleas are actually members of the crab family. They don't drink mammal blood, although there are a few kinds of sand fleas that happen to be parasites. They actually look like shrimp or crabs in appearance, if you get close enough to see them. The sand flea is a marine animal, and basically harmless to people and our animals.
A sand flea female lays her eggs and then she carries them with her, which is the way most shrimp handle their eggs. She will watch over them as long as they are still eggs. But as soon as they hatch, the baby sand fleas have no “mom” to turn to. She is gone by then. When they hatch, they look just like their mom only smaller, and each sand flea has every part of its body that it will need to stay alive. In the sand flea's life, it will moult many times, and it will grow larger and larger each time. After it has moulted eight or nine times, or so, each sand flea will be active sexually, and will breed. And the cycle starts over again.
Sand fleas are only on the beach when they're washed up there – they actually live in the ocean. Research submersibles in the deep seas have found that sand fleas live at great depths, and pretty much anywhere in the ocean. Mammals like whales often eat huge scores of sand fleas and other small animals for food. They generally filter great quantities of ocean water and eat whatever food is there.
Sometimes the sand flea is called “bait”, people believing that they are used for that purpose. Actually, they are not. The animals used for bait are mole crabs, not sand fleas. Many fishermen use mole crabs for bait, and they are easier to catch than sand fleas. It is difficult to get as many as they need, so they use a rake to collect them.
A sand flea is also called a “no-see-um”, a sand hopper or a beach flea.