Can You Eat Sand Fleas?
Seafood has always been a favorite in coastal areas. With changes in seawater in recent years, some seafoods have become harder to source in areas where they once were plentiful. Enter the humble crustacean misnamed the “sand flea.”
What are Sand fleas?
Sand fleas are not actually insects, let alone fleas. Sand fleas are small decapod crustaceans belonging to the class Malacostraca. The most common sand fleas found in North America are Emerita analoga on the West Coast, E. benedicti in the Gulf of Mexico, and E. talpoda on the East Coast. They are small, about the size of a human finger, and have a characteristic blue-green color when live.
What are Sand fleas known as?
Although they physically resemble tiny crabs, they are closer related to shrimp. Sand fleas are also known as beach hoppers, sand crabs, or lawn shrimp. Filter feeders typically living just above or near the high-water mark. Sand fleas seek shelter during the day in sand and seaweed.
Sand fleas are known to bite humans and animals. When larger animals disturb their living areas, they can use their jaws in defense and those jaws can inflict some irritation. Not a danger unless their bites become infected. The characteristic painful bite and rash gives them their “flea” nickname. Closer biologically to shrimp than to insects, these decapods are small enough to fit several of them in the palm of a human hand.
What do Sand fleas look like?
Visually, sand fleas are pointy-headed creatures with a rounded tail end that could cause the unfamiliar observer to believe that they were looking at the head when looking at the rounded part. Especially as the legs are jointed such that they can run as efficiently backward as forward. However, when prodded with an instrument or finger it can be easily discovered that the mouth parts are in the tapered head.
While the broad, rounded hindquarters terminate in a large, shovel-like appendage. Immediately after molting, the shovel is soft and ineffective at digging. This creates opportunity where these creatures cannot effectively flee to the safety of the deep sand. Emerita males range typically 1 to 1.5 centimeters long. Females typically are around 3 centimeters long. Male Emerita also have shells that harden more quickly than female after molting.
Sand fleas in class Malacostra family Phlebotomidae, as opposed to the insect sand flea, Tunga penetrans, are closely related to shrimp and other coastal crustaceans. Unlike the insect sand flea or jigger in UK English, Emerita is not a parasite and cannot infest a living host. Emerita is not easily confused with T. Penetrans, which is around a millimeter long in the independent phase of its life and is recognizably a parasitic insect. If you believe that you have a T. penetrans infestation, contact medical personnel.
Where can sand fleas be found?
Sand fleas are, as their name suggests, found in the sand. They are typically found near the high tide line. Easily caught in the surf zone, the best way to catch them is by putting a net in the water as the water goes out. Like other arthropods, they molt. Soft-shelled sand fleas are often used as bait to attract game fish like stripers and perch, indicating that they can be eaten.
Once a beach is located, sand fleas can be easily found by waiting for the tide to start going out. Once the tide is retreating, the flea fisher can either rake the sand to reveal sand fleas or use a net in the loose sand. The net option is by far the more efficient.
Can You Eat Sand Fleas?
Because of where they live, sand fleas are often thought to be inedible, in addition to their name, which may convince the unfamiliar that they are in fact an insect. Among people who understand sand fleas to be edible, there are those who believe that because of the small size, especially of male specimens, that they aren’t worth the effort of catching and eating and. Even if caught, such people believe, they are more useful as bait for game fish. Indeed, the small size of a sand flea or sand crab means that they have a limited amount of meat, even less than shrimp in the 41-60 count range.
Sand fleas, as said before, breed in coastal regions in shallow water and sand. Because they live in sand, a sand flea that is taken directly out of its natural habitat and cooked will have a foul taste and a gritty sensation. Their digestive tract is full of both excrement and sand.
Like a shrimp, a sand flea will either need to be deveined before eating, or else kept in clean water for a day or two so they can work the remaining grit out of their digestive tracts. Like shrimp, sand fleas are edible. They are shellfish, and like any other shellfish, harbor parasites, mostly mites. Because of their parasitic infestations, sand fleas need to be cooked fully to kill the parasites that they harbor. Like other ocean crustaceans, the primary edible meat in a sand flea is in the tail. Some cooks argue that the body meat is too difficult to make edible for the small amount of edible meat contained, and if eaten will give a poor experience.
What are some dangers of eating sand fleas?
There are numerous potential dangers to eating sand fleas, especially raw or undercooked sand fleas. Raw sand fleas harbor the marine bacteria Vibrio vulnificus. This can cause severe disease in humans, leading to amputations in some cases. Sand fleas also harbor digestive parasites that can assume residence in the human body. Lastly, domoic acid toxicity can be a threat for people eating raw or undercooked sand flea. Like shrimp and other shellfish, fully cooking sand flea is recommended if their flesh is to be eaten.
How Can Sand Fleas Be Prepared?
Sand fleas can be prepared in any way that shrimp or crab can be. Enthusiasts compare its flavor to shrimp or crab, both of which are widely consumed delicacies worldwide. Sand flea should be boiled before frying as this will denature and destroy any internal parasites.
It’s said that the best way to prepare sand flea is to roll it in corn meal or dip in batter and deep-fry. Deep fried sand flea can be eaten like popcorn shrimp.
Conclusion
Adventurous eaters have been discovering sand flea for years. With the hardy crustacean available at any of the world’s oceans, it promises to be a potentially bountiful source of protein in coming decades.
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