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Monday, September 5, 2022

Horseshoe Crabs

 

This weekend I practically lived on the beach.  It's the first weekend in September and the last weekend before school starts, and the colder weather comes.  It won't be beach weather anymore.  So I indulged myself with beach combing.

This is a picture of the horseshoe crab.  When it lands on its back, it is difficult to right itself so many of them die on the beach.  The wave turmoil tosses them around.  They come during the full moon to lay their eggs and the full moon brings a high tide.  

The horseshoe crab is pretty valuable.  If you received a vaccine then you received the blood from the horseshoe crab.  Sometimes I've seen students from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute taking these horseshoe crabs.  Their blood is blue and used in medicine for its antibacterial properties.  Then the horseshoe crabs are returned to the ocean.  

Their looks haven't changed much since prehistoric times.  They are literally living fossils.  If you ever find one still living washed ashore, do it a favor and flip it back over and bring it to the water.  Save its life, after all, it saves yours.

 

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