Horseshoe Crabs
A crab is not a crab when it’s a horseshoe crab! These creatures are actually distant relatives of the spider and scorpion. Although at first sight they may look dangerous, they are actually harmless. Scientists believe that horseshoe crabs haven’t changed much in the last 350 to 400 million years. The horseshoe crab has a long, spiked tail that serves as a rudder and also helps the crab upright itself if it is turned over. The shell is the shape of a horseshoe. The first four of its five pairs of legs are used for walking. The fifth pair of legs, which are leaflike flaps, comes in handy for pushing. The horseshoe crab has five pairs of eyes, but still doesn’t see very well. The eyes are not used to escape predators or to look for food. In fact, horseshoe crabs have no natural enemies. During the day, the eyes only pick up movement, but at dusk horseshoe crabs use their eyes, along with other sensors on their bodies, to find other horseshoe crabs. The crab spends most of its time in the ocean and returns to estuaries and coastal marshes only for mating and laying eggs. Their favorite foods include clams, worms and other invertebrates.