Sea Crabs Diet

Dungeness Crabs

• The Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC) records that young Dungeness crabs first feast on small crustaceans and mollusks, and then progress to fish and shrimp in their second year. As adults, they graduate to oysters, cockles and clams but are also cannibalistic.

Blue Crabs

• National Geographic states that blue crabs "feed on almost anything they can get hold of, including mussels, snails, fish, plants and even carrion and smaller blue crabs." The Blue Crab website elaborates, stating that the juveniles prefer "benthic macro invertebrates, small fish and dead organisms." Adults continue this diet but add oysters, shrimp, hard clams and organic debris to their menu. Sea lettuce, eelgrass, ditch grass and salt marsh grass are fair game at any age.

Hermit Crabs

• Enchanted Learning advises that hermit crabs are omnivores and scavengers. They eat worms, plankton and organic debris.

Rock Crabs

• According to HMSC, baby rock crabs feed on mussels. Adults expand their diet to include sea cucumbers, polychaetes, amphipods, crabs and bivalves.

Fiddler Crabs

• The Chesapeake Bay Program reports that fiddler crabs feed on algae, bacteria and decaying marsh plants.