I was at the beach over the weekend, and walking in about waist high water. I felt something kind of slimy under my foot. I jumped at first, but then went back to see what it was, since it was kind of big. I felt around with my foot until I found it, jumping again. I investigated some more with my foot. I wanted to dive under to see what it was, but the water was really cloudy where I was. I assumed it was a crab, and that it would pinch me repeatedly if I tried to pick it up. But, I really wanted to find out what it was, and to show my daughter. So, I reached down, and grabbed under it. As I lifted it towards the surface, I saw what it was, and got spooked and dropped it, but was able to quickly recover it.
In case you didn’t know, it’s a horseshoe crab. Some people nearby were amazed that I caught this thing with my bare hands. I called to my wife to come check it out, and snap some pictures. My daughter came to look at it, from a very safe distance, but would not come closer to get a picture with it.
Horseshoe crabs are marine and brackish water arthropods of the family Limulidae, suborder Xiphosurida, and order Xiphosura.[2] Their popular name is actually a misnomer, for they are not true crabs.
Horseshoe crabs live primarily in and around shallow coastal waters on soft sandy or muddy bottoms. They tend to spawn in the intertidal zone at spring high tides.[3] They are commonly eaten in Asia, and used as fishing bait, in fertilizer and in science (especially Limulus amebocyte lysate). In recent years, population declines have occurred as a consequence of coastal habitat destruction and overharvesting.[2] Tetrodotoxin may be present in Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda.[4]
Because of their origin 450 million years ago, horseshoe crabs are considered living fossils.[5] A 2019 molecular analysis places them as the sister group of Ricinulei within Arachnida.[6]
Read more about horseshoe crabs on Wikipedia
After showing my wife and daughter, and a few onlookers, and getting a few pictures, I released it back into the ocean.