Horseshoe Crab

Ar-1070 HORSESHOE CRAB, Limulus polyphemus

They are one of the oldest living creatures on earth. Fossil records go back more than four hundred million years. They are also among the most hardy. Shipped in damp Spanish moss to keep their gills from becoming damaged, they can last for a week or longer out of water. They thrive on chopped fish, shrimp, and make good scavengers for any sized aquarium. The optic nerve of the horseshoe crab has been studied for the past fifty years, and recently, its blood has proven a valuable diagnostic tool in pharmacology. Large, 20-25 cm. carapace. Medium, 10-15 cm. carapace. Small, 2.5-8.0 carapace. Specimens may be selected for clear lateral eyes, for electrophysiological recording for an extra charge.

Small: $22.50

Medium: $34.00

Large: $51.00

*$3.00 per animal to select for clear lateral eyes.

ANATOMY

VIDEOS

BOOKS

Horseshoe Crab: Biography of a Survivor by Anthony D. Fredericks

Traveling from the Delaware Bay to the Florida Panhandle, this examination is a quest through the natural history and science behind one of nature’s oldest and oddest survivors—the horseshoe crab. With ten eyes, five pairs of walking legs, a heart half the length of their bodies, and blood that can save a person’s life, horseshoe crabs have been on this planet for 445 million years—since long before the dinosaurs arrived. This book explores their unique biology and sex life, explains their importance to medical science and migratory shorebirds, and introduces readers to the people who are working to study and protect them.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

1980 The breeding behavior and patterns of movement of Horseshoe Crabs, Limulus polyphemus, in the vicinity of breeding beaches in Apalachee Bay, Fl. Est. 3:177 183.

1979 Locomotor and light responses of larvae of the horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus. Biological Bulletin 157: 494-501.

1979 Limulus polyphemus: a review of the ecologically significant literature. In Cohen, E. (ed.) “Biomedical applications of the Horseshoe crab (Limulidae).” Alan R. Liss, Publ., New York, 27 35.

1976 Rudloe, Anne and W.F. Herrnkind. Orientation of Limulus polyphemus in the vicinity of breeding beaches. Mar. Beh. Physiol 4:75-89.

1982 The effect of heavy bleeding on mortality of the horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, in the natural environment. J. Invert. Path 42: 167 176.

1982 Man’s Influence as an Environmental Threat to Limulus Physiol. Biol. of Horseshoe Crabs: Normal and Envir. Stressed Animals. Alan R. Liss, Publ., pp. 297 300.