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Horseshoe Crabs Annual Census on the Delaware Bay Beaches

5/11/2012

6 Comments

 

Horseshoe Crabs Inundate the Delaware Bay Shoreline

Delaware Bay beaches come alive with activity in mid-May as migrating shorebirds fly in from Central and South America, horseshoe crabs swim ashore to lay their eggs, and census takers count the number of crabs finding mates. The shorebirds refuel by feasting on the eggs that are half-buried in the sand and then continue their flight northward. The remaining eggs that are covered by sand will mature and hatch after a month or more of development, in relatively calm water when the moon is full. Waves sweep the half inch long crabs into shallow water where they stay for nearly a week until they are ready to molt. The young crabs then live in the nearby intertidal flats for the first two years of life. 

During the full and new moons of late May and early June over a million horseshoe crabs appear on the beaches of the Delaware Bay. Most of them favor the beaches mid-way up the Delaware Bay, such as Pickering Beach, which often has the highest densities of horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's horseshoe crab census. Researchers counted an average of 27 horseshoe crabs per square meter at Pickering Beach during the peak of spawning season. Other beaches with large populations of horseshoe crabs are Mahon Beach, Kitts Hummock Beach, Fowlers Beach, Bowers Beach, Big Stone Beach, Slaughter Beach, and Prime Hook Beach. The highlighted beaches have been reviewed in my earlier blogs, and the other beaches will be reviewed in upcoming blogs.  

Since 1990 the University of Delaware Sea Grant College Program sponsors a horseshoe crab census to estimate the population on Delaware beaches. The data from these annual crab counts provide a valuable management tool for long-term monitoring of the Delaware Bay horseshoe crab population. You can volunteer for the Annual Horseshoe Crab census by contacting Dr. Bill Hall (Delaware) at (302) 645-4253 or by e-mail at bhall@udel.edu. An excellent source of information about the Delaware horseshoe crab population is the University of Delaware's College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment's website at http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/horseshoecrab. 

6 Comments
Mike
5/13/2012 02:58:10 pm

The University of Delaware's College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment's Sea Grant website is an excellent resource!

Reply
Norene
5/13/2012 03:03:20 pm

Yes, it is excellent. For anyone interested in the latest Delaware environmental research, this is the place to go: http://www.deseagrant.org

Reply
Anne
5/13/2012 03:06:57 pm

Thanx for the names of the beaches where the horseshoes swim ashore! Any make it to the Chesapeake Bay?

Reply
Norene
5/13/2012 03:08:59 pm

You are welcome! Yes, the Chesapeake Bay sees a large number of horseshoe crabs, also, but not as high as Delaware's numbers.

Reply
Peggy
6/25/2012 09:53:11 am

I was on the beach of the Delaware Bay yesterday in the town of Villas NJ. There were at least 100 people up and down the sand all enjoying the beach in the hot sun but no one was in the water. I know about the prevalence of the Horseshoe crabs in the area, but when i asked one of the locals on the beach if the crabs were the reason no one was swimming he said no, that they are more afraid of people and would swim away. The water was very dark and you could not see in front of yourself, but I really think that there must be a direct link between the Horseshoe crabs in the water and no one swimming. Is there a timeline when everyone knows the crabs are gone?

Reply
Norene
6/25/2012 01:34:31 pm

Hi Peggy! In the beach areas surrounding the Delaware Bay, horseshoe crabs can be seen on almost any beach during the high tides that occur in late spring and early summer. As soon as spawning season is over, fewer of the crabs wash up into the shallows along the beaches, and you are correct, more people seem to venture into the water when it appears to be free of horseshoe crabs. While they are not considered dangerous, it is possible to pinch your fingers or toes in the crevice dividing the two parts of their shells. And being crabs, they do have pinchers. Mostly though, they will try to move away from trespassing beach feet. Still, that sudden movement can be unnerving to some!

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    Dr. Norene Moskalski can often be found walking the beaches of the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, collecting sea glass, weathered minerals, unusual shells, and artifacts from colonial shipwrecks. A naturalist and environmentalist by nature, and a medical diagnostician by avocation, she has a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration and has held administrative and teaching positions at Penn State University and Temple University. She has spent most of her life preparing administrators and teachers to lead and teach ethically with love and respect for everyone. The settings for her novels are authentic vignettes from university campuses and places around the world she has visited. Each novel presents a variation on a theme, using literary techniques and musical innuendos to move the action forward. Her plots revolve around the unexpected: What if the most beautiful things in the world are the most dangerous?

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