Horse Shoe CrabsHORSE SHOE CRABS (mate on right)
Exclusive Sunday Review Sketch by Dennis Puleston of Brookhaven
Focus on Nature
by Paul Stoutenburgh
Cutchogue
Come down to the bay with me just after the sun has
slipped away and the wind has gone to rest. Here a quiet
settles over our world where only a gentle working of the
bay is heard. The atmosphere suggests to us that something
is about to happen. The stage is set and sure enough, as
soon as our eyes get accustomed to the darkness we see the
ushers of the performance.
They glide in, s i l h o u e t t e d to fertilize the eggs as they are
against the dimly -lit sky. These laid.
are the Night Herons who have
come to fish for the night, only
to return to their roost before
most of us are about. Later, when
the darkness spreads its cloak,
we know only of their presence
by the f 'a m i 1 i a r, unmusical
After a period of three to five
weeks ,depending on the tempera-
ture of the water and sand, the
little crabs hatch out and start
their never- ending b a t t l e for
survival.
During the first year, the
•`gook Horseshoe Crab sfteds man y
But these are only part of the times. Most of us have seen soft
show, for the story I want to tell shell crabs but few have ever
you is one that you should know observed the soft - shelled Horse -
if you are not familiar with our shoe Crab. And yet, often when
beaches at ebb tide in the spring. we are out clamming in shallow
It is a story that starts over water, we can trace these young
200 million years ago, when this crabs by following their tell -tale
iworld was just beginning, and the trails through the sand.
gitbtesque shapes of prehistoric What we find is a sand - colored
beings were evolving. Our story leathery crab. This color changes
is about the Horseshoe Crab or, as they grow older until they
as he is lykown to some the later become olive brown or red
King Crab. ° - dish brown in color.
Down the beach a short way In shedding, the Horseshoe Crab
our tale starts to unfold as it differs from other crabs in that
has each year at this time when it sheds out the front of the shell
they return' from the deep to per- rather than the back. Such a neat
form their spring ritual. job of shedding is done that many
We see this creature s l o w l y y times we see the discarded shells
lurching along, plowing half sub- fully - `intact along the shores.
merged as it lays its clusters of It is after shedding that t h e
small green -tined eggs along the crabs grow and it is obvious that
high tide limits. Attached to the during this period they are most
tail of the large female his the vulnerable to attack, for they stay
smaller male who travels along in this soft condition for days
C_J
until the shell hardens. On it
has acquired its hardened shell,
this prehistoric tank can face the
world unmolested. A full -grown
female will reach the length of
20 inches, while males are much
smaller in size.
Many times I have found these
old timers with the topside of the
shell so covered with acorn bar -
nacles and grass that it is hard
to distinguish their two , pair of
.eyes. One pair is directly in front
while the other more obvious pair
is located on the sides. Turn this
grassy monster over and you will
often see slipper limpets attached
to the underside.
The jagged spear so character-
istic of this crab is not used for
defense or attack but rather to
help right itself should it become
overturned. Probably you have
seen this when a crab has been
tossed up on the beach. The tail
literally flips it over so s, =that it
may return to the sea.
My interest in this little- known
crab started one day when I was
reading about the spider family
and was amazed to see that the
Horseshoe Crab belonged to this
clan, and was not a crustacean
as I had thought. His nearest
relatives are the scorpions and
spiders. Although it is not a true
crustacean, it had the blue blood
that characterizes mollusks and
crabs.
Actually, this crab is an air
breather, eve nthough it lives in
the w a t e r. The manufacturing
plant for this conversion is read-
ily seen when one is turned over.
This section, called the gill book,
looks like a series of pages, one
on top of the other. It is tbs9ugh
these that oxygen is exchanged
when these books are rhythmic-
ally shaken as the crab lunges
alom_ the bottom.
Like many o the common
crabs, a Horseshoe Crab can live
a long time out of the. water. In
the olden days -- farmers would go
down with their wagons' and col-
lect the "horse feet",. These
would be used for fertilizer or
for feeding their pigs and chick-
ens. Many times they were held
over, alive, until needed.
Today there is no special
commercial value for them but
occasionally. fishermen will col-
lect thetn for bait in eel traps.
They do no particular harm ex-
cept for the occasional scare they
give a swimmer who has never
faced one before.
They feed on small inverte-
brates and worms which they dig
up in their constant plowing and
burrowing. It is interesting to
note that the crab must contin-
ually be on the move in order
to eat because he operates' similar
to a machine that consumes as
it runs.
It is disheartening to walk along
the beaches to see what length
man will go to trying to eliminate
these Horseshoe Crabs. To de-
liberately destroy them just be-
cause they invade "our" beaches
in the Springtime ridiculous.
- Wet we who know Nature's way
realize how insignificant this act
really is in comparison to the
multitudes of hardships and bat-
tles this creature has overcome
in the past 200 million years: °
FIELD OBSERVATIONS:-
Dennis, Puleston reports: 43t,nok
haven — May 25 $ay -br slo
Warbler, Canada Warbler,
noiia jVarbler, Chestnut d
Warbler, Campe 11Sjay WarlTie:
Nashville Warble; PAru1e --
ler, Black - throated -Green
ler,- Gnatcatcher, Red$tart;
backed Obrush, W'i;bJmg -.
Northern Water Thrush
Send. your Field Observations or
Comments to Paul Stoutenburgh,
Route No 1, Box No 105, Bay
Avenue, Cutchogue, New York.
Next week we are having Keith
McKenna` a our guest writer. He
teach e.skEnglish at Riverhead
High and has a delightful way of
explaining some of the things that
many of tis