The fiddler crab eats by first opening its mouth, then using its maxillipeds (a part of its mouth), it scoops in a small amount of mud or sand, depending on where it lives. Then, it uses its other mouthparts to scrape any food matter (algae, decaying animals or plants)it can from the dirt it has just put into its mouth. After this, it forms the mud or sand into a little pellet, which is called a "feeding pellet". It then drops the feeding pellet and starts all over again.