Yellow Shore Crab

Despite its name, the Yellow Shore Crab (Hemigrapsus oregonensis), a San Francisco Bay mudflat native, can appear grey, green, or yellow in color. These crabs will hunt or scavenge for food, and are an important food source themselves for native and migratory birds alike. As scavengers, or decomposers, yellow shore crabs play an important role in keeping their homes “clean” by eating dead plants and animals that would otherwise take decades to return their nutrients back into the soil. If their food of preference wasn’t strange enough, their teeth are actually found in their stomach!