THE INTRIGUING HORN-EYED GHOST CRAB.

The Horn-Eyed Ghost Crab, scientific name (Ocypode Ceratophthalmus) is Common on many of our shores, although it is not very common to see this elusive creature. There are a few reasons for this, they have a pale body color similar to sand, they are nocturnal and move so quickly across the sand that they are easy to miss. Their speed is 100 bodylengths per second which is pretty impressive.

What you see in the day time is their large holes marking their burrow, which are usually on the dry sand high above the water mark.
In Australia you could easily mistake them for brown snake holes which also call the dunes home.

Their burrows are very deep at a 45 degree angle for a depth of up to 4 feet and width of 1-2 inches. They stay there in the day time to keep themselves cool and also in winter to protect themselves from the cold.

They possess the unique ability to store oxygen in airbags close to its gills, so when it buries itself in the sand it survives on stored oxygen. This oxygen can be stored in their air sacs for about six weeks.

This crab is an omnivore and has been seen eating anything from fish, worms, shrimp, other crabs algae, plants and sadly even baby turtles which they drag down into their burrow as the baby turtles are trying to make their way out to the ocean.

The Gohst Crab has 5 sets of legs and is very active at night, it can change direction suddenly. That coupled with 360 degree eyesight makes these little creatures efficient predators.

The reason we could get these photos during the day is because their eyesight is not as good in the day time, and for some reason this one didn't make it back to its burrow before the sun came up, which also makes them a lot slower and susceptible to predators themselves. Of course we tried to put him back to safety.

Photos and information by white.tiger