Horseshoe Crabs Spawning in Delaware Bay
Every year in May or June, horseshoe crabs come to shallow coastal waters to mate and lay their eggs. On the Atlantic coast, the Delaware Bay has the highest concentration of these ancient creatures. They are most numerous when during the high tides of the new and full moons within this window of time. On May 23, 2013 we witnessed this natural spectacle at the Delaware Bay. (Click on each image to see the high-resolution version)
Even as we just crossed the Chesapeake Bay and stopped at Sandy Point in Maryland, we saw horseshoe crabs coming to shore.
But as dust approached at Slaughter Beach, they were really coming out. In pairs, in threes, or in clusters, they came out to mate and spawn.
Some got turned upside-down by the tide and could not right themselves -- apparently millions of years of evolution has not equipped them with this simple ability.
I helped flip some of these funny creatures over, but there were so many of them -- thousands to say the least -- that I could not possible help them all. Those that did not get flipped around became easy preys for various other predators and scavengers. This one was already half-eaten.
The eggs of the horseshoe crabs provided high protein food source for the migrating sea birds, such as these Semipalmated Sandpipers.
As night came down, the horseshoe crabs (which are not crabs at all but more closely related to scorpions and spiders) keep coming up. It was a spectacular, if a bit eerie scene, and one that I will never forget.
Horseshoe Crabs
Horseshoe Crabs
Horseshoe Crabs
Horseshoe Crabs
Horseshoe Crabs
Horseshoe Crabs
Flock of Semipalmated Sandpipers
Horseshoe Crabs
Horseshoe Crabs
Click the image below to return to the index page of Spring 2013 Atlantic Coast Trip:
