Bioturbation-induced changes on benthic metabolism and on OM availability would result in a reduction of the storage capacity of carbon the export of organic material. Despite this apparent contradiction,our results along with results of previous works, suggest that crab burrows trap organic carbon (i.e., detritus and OM rich sediment), which is efficiently degraded and remineralized at bioturbated sediment, and finally it is quickly exported to the water column as CO2 and DOC. Considering that one of the most important sources of nutrients for estuarine and coastal waters comes from estuarine organic matter, and that only a small fraction of it is exported as macro detritus, this bioturbation-induced increase in benthic flux of dissolved organic matter toward water column could be an important contribution to sustain coastal food webs.