They live along the tide line, right where the waves wash over the shore, scuttling briefly through the receding waters before burying themselves back in the sand. Long believed to be completely harmless, for years children have played with them, fishermen use them as bait and cats chase them as they dart through the surf.
Call them “sand-fleas,” “mole-crabs,” or their proper scientific name “emerita taipoida” these little clowns of the tides have been a part of beachgoers’ fun for years, but last Wednesday that all changed with the first recorded attack by a sand flea on a human being.
Scientists now believe the mole-crabs are, in fact, an evolved pre-larval stage of the insidious xenomorph, the spindly creatures responsible for the destruction of the USCSS Nostromo and the Hadleys Hope colony. They call the new animals “eggs with legs” and warn people lying on the sand close to the ocean will “more than likely” be attacked by the mole crab. The crab attacks by latching onto the victim’s face and forcing its proboscis down their throat. After depositing a larval version of the xenomorph in the victim’s stomach the mole crab falls off and is consumed by seagulls. The victim then has 48-72 hours to finish enjoying their vacation and complete their bucket list before the juvenile xenomorph bursts through their chest.
Dr. Ash with the Center for Disease Control leads the team studying the problem. He speculated that the mole crabs had not attacked humans before now in order to “lull us into a sense of complacency.” Currently there is no known way to remove the mole-crabs once attached, however a combination of baking soda and Diet Coke has shown some promise.
Since Wednesday’s incident there have been 63 reported attacks along Dare County’s beaches. Visitors have been moving their beach gear further and further back from the tide line in response to this new menace.
“I mean, we paid good money to vacation here,” said Joan Lambert from Washington, D.C. “We came here to enjoy the beach and by golly that’s what we’re going to do.”