A pretty little Mole Crab.

It looks like a wierd cross between a sandy cockroach and a purple lobster, but nothing like a crab. Go figure.

Mole crabs, (AKA Sand Fleas) burrow into the sand from predators like fish and seabirds. Most of the time I think they're varying shades of brown and white, but this one is dead and bleached. Plus, I've also found one that looked sort of opally. I don't know what that was about. This one's sort of got a camo pattern now.

Mole crabs are found from Massachusetts all the way down the coast.