Courtney, UR- Frisky Horseshoe Crabs...

So I have decided on doing my IRP on horseshoe crab populations since I have an awesome opportunity with an internship to do a little more research on this unique yet very important marine species. This article, "Beachgoers asked to watch for frisky horseshoe crabs", basically gives a little more of an idea of why horseshoe crabs are important and what needs to be done to help them.



This is an Adult Horseshoe Crab

Horseshoe crabs may look intimidating but they are actually completely harmless and are not related to crabs at all but more to scorpions and spiders! They are vital to coastal ecosystems because many coastal animals rely on the 100,000 eggs that horseshoe crabs lay in a single mating season and if there aren't any eggs then many animals don't eat. Horseshoe crabs are also important to us humans because we rely on the harvesting of their blue blood, which actually does NOT harm the horseshoe crab, for an important chemical, Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate, used to test the sterility of medical equipment and other medical related testing/research.

Populations are declining due to habitat destruction and beach development and there is little documentation on Florida's horseshoe crab population and Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission can use all the help it can get on getting more information. As a child I pretty much grew up on Florida's coast and I used to see horseshoe crabs all the time and was always fascinated with them so I am really excited to be able to help with the research and documentation of these unique and vital marine creatures.

This is a picture of a baby horseshoe crab