Tagging prehistoric horseshoe crabs with the American Littoral Society in the Shark River Estuary Watch video
BELMAR -- Hey, everybody, thanks again for checking out "Outdoors with Andre." I spent an evening recently with a group of a people tagging some living fossils and just wanted to share the experience.
At the Shark River in Belmar, the American Littoral Society had the unusual task of tagging horseshoe crabs. You know, those ancient, spiky helmet-looking critters that sometimes wash up on beaches. The video above shows what it's like to tag this "living fossil."
The horse shoes crabs actually predate dinosaurs by 200 million years. Little has changed with this creature including the strong instinct to spawn in late spring to early summer. Tens of thousands of crabs come near shore all across the state of New Jersey.
The American Littoral Society along with its partner the Shark River Cleanup Coalition (SRCC) has been tagging horseshoe crabs since 2003. Around 30 volunteers showed up at the L Street Beach in Belmar on the Shark River to lend a hand with the process. The Society wants to learn whether these crabs belong to the Raritan Bay or Delaware Bay populations. Or, perhaps if they are their own population. Some of their tagged crabs have been discovered as far south as Ocean City Maryland and as far north as northern Long Island. This data clearly indicates that these crabs travel great distances
Some find the strange anatomy of the horseshoe crab a bit frightening. "Yeah, people are scared of it at first," said Captain Alek Modjeski, Habitat Restoration Program Director for the American Littoral Society. "They see the tail on it and they think it's gonna be a stinger." But experts assured volunteers that they are completely harmless. Their tails are used mostly to help flip themselves upright if they should get overturned.
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Horseshoe crabs come in to shallow waters in May and June when the temperatures are right to spawn. A female can lay us many as 90,000 eggs. Once they're captured, a small hole is drilled on the left rear side of the hard shell where it will not interfere with the crab's mobility. A numbered tag is inserted and size information is logged. The crabs are then released unharmed.
About 70 horseshoe crabs were tagged in just one event. According to Modjeski, it was a successful evening.
While the group wants to understand where the crabs go -- more importantly - they need to prove that spawning continues on Shark River beaches. This might help them gain more protection for the crabs and the estuary - especially during spawning season. "I would like to see more restoration done here too where these crabs can just tuck in a and spawn," Said Modjeski. "My thought is, they've been here a long time, let's just keep them here."
Andre Malok may be reached at amalok@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @AndreMalok. Find NJ.com on Facebook.