Horseshoe Crab
The Horseshoe crab is an Arthropod that lives at the Temperate Deciduos Forest. They live close to shore at a place where there is warm weather.When they get to shore they crawl on the sand and when they are at the water they swim even upside down, sometimes they even crawl along the ocean! The telson(tail) of the Horseshoe crab is used to turn itself when it is flipped by waves. During the summer thousands of Horseshoe crabs go to the Delaware Bay for spawning. This attracts thousands of tourists.
Characteristics of the Horseshoe crab!
Believe it or not the Horseshoe crab is not a crab! It is actually related to scorpions,spiders,and ticks.Scientists believe that they have been on Earth for over 35 million years,even before dinosaurs! By the research that has been done, it is known Horseshoe crabs look almost identical to their ancestors. The Horseshoe crabs have 10 eyes, 6 small and 4 big. They also have 5 legs.An odd characteristic of the Horseshoe crabs is that they have blue blood! Scientists use the blue blood for new discoveries about Horseshoe crabs.The Horseshoe crabs use book gills to breathe. Horseshoe crabs also change shells during their lives. The female Horseshoe crabs are 2 feet and the male are smaller than the female. They reproduce sexually and can lay up to 80,000 eggs. After four weeks the eggs hatch, but only some of them survive because of the predators.
Conservating Horseshoe crabs
A lot of people judge the Horseshoe crabs for being dangerous, but they are actually harmless. They do not have teeth or jaws.They also grind their food by their legs. We are actually more of a threat to the Horseshoe crabs than they are to us because we pollute their water.
Resources: " Horseshoes Alive!": Magazine Ranger Rick, www.bioexpedition.com
Resources: " Horseshoes Alive!": Magazine Ranger Rick, www.bioexpedition.com