Courtney, UR-This Week's Horseshoe Crab Update!

Breeding pair that was found on my recent trip

So far I have been able to assist in two horseshoe crab surveys with the Marine Discovery Center since I have begun my research. Unfortunately both surveys at the Smyrna Beach Dunes site came up empty BUT we did make a pit stop at another site called Riverside Drive in New Smyrna and I was able to find one mating pair of horseshoe crabs (HSC),  YAY! I also was able to assist in tagging the first HSC ever tagged in Volusia County which is pretty cool! I have been taking note of all environmental data such as wind speed, water temperature, air temperature and collecting water samples for salinity testing all of which I plan to use in my IRP. I have also been noting every other environmental condition that comes to mind such as cloud coverage, moon percentage, beach conditions etc. in hopes to get some valuable data! I will be planning to conduct surveys at two other sites as well so I can have plenty of data to compare.



First tagged HSC in Volusia County

Also to answer a few questions;
What do horseshoe crabs eat? Also, do horseshoe crabs have any predators, if so, what are they?
Horseshoe crabs eat a variety of organisms such as small clams, crustaceans, and worms. They will also eat algae as well. As far as predators go, adult HSC have very few predators. Mainly sharks and sea turtles feed on them as well as some birds. If left vulnerable on shore they may become food sources for animals such as raccoons and fox's. Of course humans are a predator as well because we use them for bait to catch eel.
A wide variety of marine life feed on both the eggs and larvae of HSC such as sea turtles, many species of fish, crabs, other crustaceans and 11 different species of migratory shorebirds.

 Any idea why there aren't any giant horseshoe crab farms that would allow the scientist to regularly get small amounts of blood? Are there any other countries that have such a facility?
As far as I can determine from my research there are no horseshoe crab farms in the U.S or rest of the world due to the fact that they are extremely difficult to breed in captivity. Due to that main reason there is no sign of any farms starting up anytime soon. It is unfortunate that this is not possible because it would make a lot more sense if we could farm them.