Background information:

In recent years, the Horseshoe crab population has been quickly dwindling. While this is in part due to the local animals who use them as a source of food, the horseshoe crabs never faced any real danger of extinction until humans began interfering, such as using them for medical purposes and as bait. The drop in the Horseshoe crab population is also beginning to affect the birds who rely on the Horseshoe crab as food so that they can survive their migration. If this problem is left unchecked, even more species could be affected.

Our project is to design a habitat for Horseshoe crabs to see if it is possible to raise them in captivity and then release them in to the wild. The conditions in the habitats must mimic the conditions that they would be faced with if they were living in their natural environment. The construction of the habitat will be split in to two sections. I will be in charge of building the water flow systems and the environmental requirements while my partner will be responsible for the structure of the habitat. This habitat will be set up in the NOAA laboratory on Sandy Hook and will house 6 month to 1 year old horseshoe crabs.


Red knots and spawning horseshoe crabs, Mispillion Harbor, Delaware Bay


Horseshoe crabs spawning in Mispillion Harbor, Delaware Bay


Horseshoe crabs on a rocky shore

Habitats of horseshoe crabs


Juvenile horseshoe crabs on a sandy beach in Lantau Island


Singular horseshoe crab


Red knot eating horseshoe crab


Bleeding horseshoe crab


Collecting horseshoe crab


Horseshoe crabs were over-harvested for food, fertilizer and fish bait


Juvenile Horseshoe crab


Horseshoe crab. Declining numbers of a shorebird called the red knot have been linked to bait use of horseshoe crabs.


Horseshoe crab flipped on its back


Horseshoe crabs being brought in by the tide


Juvenile Horseshoe crab in Wellfleet Marsh


Tiny Juvenile Horseshoe crab netted


Underside of tiny juvenile horseshoe crab


Horseshoe crab crawling in the sand


A spawning horseshoe crab pair in a tank


Juvenile horseshoe crab