Erratic, off-putting, controversial, hasty and an outcast are not any terms by which one wants to be remembered by their nearest and dearest. But that is just how Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz was described by his colleagues and so-called friends.
One story explains that after Rafinesque damaged one of John James Audubon’s treasured violins, Audubon retaliated by describing fantastical imaginary organisms and had Rafinesque document and publish them. Rafinesque was unaware that these were made-up creatures, and the documentation caused him much embarrassment. With prankster friends like that…
Rafinesque did study and detail real animals — lots of them — and regardless of the lack of respect from his peers, left a significant scientific legacy. Over 900 public works are credited to him and he leaves many named-by and named-for-him creatures.
One group of animals that he studied and named could also be said to be under appreciated and misunderstood are the Talitridae. This scientific family’s creatures are amphipod crustaceans and detail more than 435 species in 55 genera.
A broad group, Talitrids can survive on land, in water, on the coast and even in a lawn. They go by many names, and some of the marine ones might be recognizable. Sandhoppers, beachhoppers, sand fleas, beach fleas and salt marsh fleas describe those little translucent bug-like creatures that share the beaches with us. Some of those are misnomers since these animals are not fleas or insects at all and they do not bite.
Sandhoppers, however, is an accurate alias, but perhaps “hop” is an understatement. These invertebrates are small, but use their bodies like a catapult and can accelerate at 300 meters per second. Sandrockets might be more apt. So it was a surprise to have one stay still long enough to photograph close up.
While I am no Rafinesque in terms of identification abilities, my app called this beast Speziochristia grillus, an amphipod often found in the upper margins of the salt marsh.
These and other similar amphipods spend their life eating, being eaten and digging. They feed on seaweed and detritus in the wrack line. There is even a variety that lives on, floats with and consumes driftwood.
Like little amphipod McNuggets, they are consumed by shorebirds, fish and other crustaceans or invertebrates. Some are used as bait, and can even serve as human food (think mini shrimps) — so they say.
Together, however, they become a force, an army of diminutive diggers that serve as excavators and mixing machines. They move massive amounts of sand with their constant burrowing, and studies show that they have one of the highest rates of bioturbation in the world. Bioturbation is the mixing of sand and sediment, and these tiny terra-transporters can dig up more than 10 times their body weight for each burrow. That study showed that 21,450 sandhoppers can collectively move 110 pounds of sand every night.
Beachhoppers are more superheroes than many of our superheroes, and accomplish great feats of decomposition, nutrient distribution and dune creation. There is no reason to berate these beachgoers. In truth, they deserve accolades and appreciation.
Which brings us back to Rafinesque, who although was much maligned, in the end, was somewhat redeemed. His death in 1840 was rumored to be caused by botanical remedies he created to self-medicate. He was laid to rest in Philadelphia, but his body was later moved to a grave at Transylvania University. There, in the 1920s, he was laid to rest a second time under a stone that read “Honor to whom honor is overdue.”
Suzan Bellincampi is director of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown, and author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature and The Nature of Martha’s Vineyard.
This article appears in September 25 2026.