Sand bubbler crabs are small crabs, around 1 cm (0.4 in) across the carapace, and they are characterised by the presence of "gas windows" on the merus of the legs; in Dotilla, these windows are also present on the thoracic sternites.

[1] A similar system has evolved in parallel in the porcelain crab genus Petrolisthes.

[4] Sand bubbler crabs are widespread across the Indo-Pacific region, where they occur abundantly on sandy beaches in the tropics and sub-tropics.

The crabs work radially from the entrance to their burrows, which they re-enter as the tide rises and disintegrates the pellets.

[7] The first sand bubbler crab to be described was Cancer sulcatus (now Dotilla sulcata) by Peter Forsskål in 1775.