help me identify two new jersey beach/ocean creatures

[Br_er_Lapin]

There are two creatures in particular that are commonly encountered on New Jersey beaches and I’m curious as to what they’re called.

The first are tiny clam/mussel type things, pure white and no more than 1/3" long, that very rapidly bury themselves in the sand when uncovered.

The second is what looks like a giant pillbug, gray with a many legs, and I believe a many segmented/hinged body (shell?)- kinda like an armadillo. They’re about 2" long and live a few inches deep in sand where the water is also only a few inches deep (well, maybe out farther too, but this is where I commonly encountered them).

Anyone have a scientific or even widely used common name for either of these guys?

[trader_of_shots]

The first are tiny clam/mussel type things, pure white and no more than 1/3" long, that very rapidly bury themselves in the sand when uncovered.

Hmmm we call them " PIPI’s" here pronounced “PIP EEZE”

Taste great … get stuck into the,

The second … Hmm perhaps a horse shoe crab ?

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/horseshoe.jpg

?

[Desmostylus]

*Originally posted by Bre’r Lappin *
The second is what looks like a giant pillbug, gray with a many legs, and I believe a many segmented/hinged body (shell?)- kinda like an armadillo. They’re about 2" long and live a few inches deep in sand where the water is also only a few inches deep (well, maybe out farther too, but this is where I commonly encountered them).

Marine isopod/beach slater/sea roach. Does this look similar?

[Ice_Wolf]

trader’s pipi shellfish looks like this.

[trader_of_shots]

Ahhh i didn’t know what a pillbug was… you mean a slater bug… Yes then it has to be a roach.

[Desmostylus]

*Originally posted by Bre’r Lappin *
The first are tiny clam/mussel type things, pure white and no more than 1/3" long, that very rapidly bury themselves in the sand when uncovered.

Bean clam?

[Yossarian]

*Originally posted by Bre’r Lappin *
**
The second is what looks like a giant pillbug, gray with a many legs, and I believe a many segmented/hinged body (shell?)- kinda like an armadillo. They’re about 2" long and live a few inches deep in sand where the water is also only a few inches deep (well, maybe out farther too, but this is where I commonly encountered them).

Anyone have a scientific or even widely used common name for either of these guys? **

I’ll bet you’re looking at a Mole Crab:

http://www.assateague.com/mole-cr.html

Here on the NC coast, they’re often called “Sand Fleas”.

[Eva_Luna]

Some of my happiest childhood memories are of digging up these very creatures on the Jersey shore, a couple of blocks from my grandparents’ house in Margate (near Atlantic City): the first we always called rainbow clams, although I have no idea what their real name is. The second we always called sand crabs. We weren’t exactly marine scientists, though.

[Br_er_Lapin]

*Originally posted by Eva Luna *
Some of my happiest childhood memories are of digging up these very creatures on the Jersey shore

Me too! I somehow got into a conversation with a friend in CA about random sea creatures, and when he told me that they don’t have either of these things over there, I was determined to find pictures for him.

It’s been several years since I’ve seen either, hence my descriptions being a bit off.

Thanks guys! They are indeed bean clams and mole crabs.