Hip-hop sandhopper a wonderful sight

I WOULD love to put a stopwatch on a sandhopper, the half-inch long, pearly crustacean found foraging amongst the washed-up seaweed on our beaches. If one could harness the energy of the billions found amongst the sea wrack, one could fuel half the country’s JCBs.

From my observations I believe they must move at 60 miles an hour in their jumps and spend only a millisecond on the sand before they’re in the air again. This is when they’re panicked; normally, they simply run about and industriously devour dead seaweed. In doing so, they are most useful creatures, although holidaymakers may find them irritating when they hop into their bathing suits or sandwiches.

I imagine they can be eaten with impunity. They are crustaceans, after all. If marooned on a desert island, with limited supplies, I’d certainly try them. Boiled, I would imagine they would go pink, like miniature prawns. They would be crunchy to the bite, like the small shrimps the Spanish call ‘camarónes’.