Horseshoe Crabs

I thought I'd share some of the Horseshoe Crab pictures I took during the spawning in May. Horseshoe Crabs are drawn to the Delaware Bay to spawn in May and June. The highest numbers of crabs come ashore at the time of the full and new mooons during high tides.

As the larger female Horseshoe Crab come ashore, the smaller males hook onto the female and the tide ppulls them onto the beach. The female horseshoe crab will bury into the sand to lay her eggs while the males will crowd around her to fertilize the eggs. The eggs are small green BB-sized balls. The female Horseshoe Crab can lay up to 20,000 eggs at one time.

These pictures were taken at Reed's Beach where the waters were black because there were so many horseshoe crab eggs floating in the waves.