GHOST CRABS OF BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA

Rare Fossil Finds Follow Florida Storms

- JOSEPH "PALEOJOE" KCHODL

During the aftermath of storms in Florida, beachcombers scour the beaches for modern-day seashells and other treasures. But on rare occasions, they find something hard to believe. It is a concretion that in size and shape resembles a crab. But the crab is covered in what looks like sand. What could this be?

The story of "ghost crabs" is unique. Crabs are so rare as fossils that they are a prized find. Crabs and other crustaceans have a hard carapace or external shell. This exoskeleton is thin and fragile and falls apart immediately upon death. These discarded shells break into small pieces when washed up on the beach or are broken apart in the tides and currents. But in the case of the ghost crabs, they are found essentially complete. Locals along the line from Eau Gallie Causeway to Pineda, Florida, call these fossils stoned crabs, beach crabs and coquina crabs.

WHAT IS COQUINA?

Coquina is a sedimentary rock formed almost entirely of ground-up fragments of shells from mollusks and other invertebrates and cemented with grains of sand.