Photo of the Day #238: Horseshoe Crab

By laelaps on June 4, 2008.

i-e6105b3eaba789ecff552de3ba200fab-horseshowcrabupsidedown.jpg

A horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) that was stranded on the beach. My wife turned it over and helped it back into the bay. Photographed May 17, 2008 at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware.

More like this

Off to Delaware

A horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), photographed at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware.This weekend I'm headed off to see the annual breeding explosion of horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) in Delaware Bay. During late May and early June, especially during the full and new moon, scores of the…

Photo of the Day #261: Horseshoe crab

The remains of a horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) that didn't make it back into the surf. Photographed on May 17, 2008 at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware.

Photo of the Day #263: Picked-over horseshoe crab

The picked-over remains of a horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), the tracks around it being a dead giveaway as to who enjoyed a breakfast of rotting chelicerate. Photographed on May 17, 2008 at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware.

Photo of the Day #245: Gastropods

Gastropods eating the shell and gills of a horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus). Photographed May 17, 2008 at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware.

OMG, please tell me you didn't really turn it over! Rolling around squirming on their back for 45 minutes r so is necessary to mix the sperm/egg juice for mating! It was having a kind of orgasm and you ruined it!

My wife turned it over and helped it back into the bay.

A clear violation of The Prime Directive.

Advertisment

Donate

ScienceBlogs is where scientists communicate directly with the public. We are part of Science 2.0, a science education nonprofit operating under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Please make a tax-deductible donation if you value independent science communication, collaboration, participation, and open access.

You can also shop using Amazon Smile and though you pay nothing more we get a tiny something.

Science 2.0

Science Codex

More by this author

This Blog Has Moved

July 14, 2010

Laelaps is back up and running at my author website, http://brianswitek.com. Go there for new posts and updates on where this blog will ultimately settle. - Brian Update (09/14/10): After a few months of blogging on my own, I'm proud to say that Laelaps has made the jump over to the new WIRED…

A Pepsi-Induced Hiatus Exodus

July 7, 2010

Important Update: The time has come to close things up here. I will no longer be blogging for ScienceBlogs.com. I am not sure where Laelaps will end up - perhaps back on Wordpress, perhaps elsewhere - but you can be sure that I will keep on writing about saber-toothed cats, whales that walked,…

Funky Worms Cause Ants to Mimic Fruit

July 6, 2010

A normal giant gliding ant (left) and an infested ant (right). The red color of the gaster is not caused by a pigment, but thinning of the exoskeleton combined with the color of the nematode eggs. From Yanoviak et al, 2008.In one of my favorite episodes of the animated TV show Futurama, the chief…

Photo of the Day #953: Collared brown lemur baby

July 5, 2010

A collared brown lemur (Eulemur collaris) baby, photographed at the Bronx Zoo.

Pleased to meet you

July 4, 2010

"Worker Bee" by Motion City SoundtrackI have been writing here at ScienceBlogs.com for about two years and nine months now. Some of you have been reading my posts since I started here (thank you for sticking with me!), but readers come and go over time, and so I am jumping on board with the "Who…