Ghost Crabs and Other Creatures

Martha is an observant person, and this morning she told me she had spotted dolphins out in the surf not far from our house.  I went out to see, and sure enough, there they were, arcing into the air, feeding on something that had brought them close to shore.  These dorsal-finned fish were brown in color, not black as we have seen in the past, which made us wonder if they could be sharks after all.

This afternoon, she went down to the beach to read a book, while I remained up in the house (working on this blog).  In a little while, she came back up to the house to tell me excitedly that there were all kinds of things on the beach, especially little crabs, running back and forth and then disappearing down their half-dollar-sized holes in the sand which we had noticed everywhere a few days ago.  I went down to the beach to see, and it was true:  literally dozens of little sand-colored crabs, from the size of pennies to perhaps the size of a child's hand; they could detect the approach of a predator like me and instantly scuttle side-ways into these tiny holes.

I learned from our friendly and informative locals at "Dockside 'N Duck," where we purchase all our seafood, that these are "Ghost Crabs," and they appear in droves this time of year on these warm afternoons.

Their eyes are perched atop two stalks and can peer around 360 degrees, so they are very aware of any unusual movement.  They especially like to make an appearance when a person is sitting still, as Martha was.  A local guide confirmed this:

Ghost crabs are notoriously shy, and with 360 degree vision, are very sensitive to any action that occurs around them. This is why many daytime beach goers will never encounter them, unless they are perfectly still, either taking a beach-side nap, or lost in a good book. In these cases, a ghost crab may break out of an otherwise-unnoticeable hole in the sand.
 
A popular activity here is to go out after dark with a flashlight and see how many of these little creatures you can find.  Yes, it's true:  after dinner, after the glorious display of sunset over the Sound, we don't go to dance-clubs, or parties.  This is the kind of exciting activity we beach-dwellers enjoy.

It was a laid-back afternoon, and we strolled down to the Corps of Engineers Research Pier, tracing messages in the sand.

Overhead, squadrons of pelicans flew in tight formation, barely moving their wings, soaring southward over the vacation homes.