It's #HorseshoeCrab mating season!!! 💕 Saw three couples nesting in sand on my sunrise walk on the beach this morning. Love these #LivingFossils 🥰 🦑🌿🧪🦀
Normally the larger female horseshoe crab drags the male on her back to fertilize eggs, but now being out of blinding sun to look closer & having first cup of coffee it seems like these are just a single female horseshoe crab laying already fertilized eggs? (Looking fwd to that edit button someday😅)
Gorgeous photos of gorgeous limulids making gorgeous traces - thank you for sharing! Whereabouts is this? Saw a few photos of them on the Georgia coast last week, which made me wonder about their arrivals north of here.
Amazed (& a little envious) that you have these beaches and limulids so close to the big city. Thanks for spiraled trackways (my favs), & the one with ripples? Wow!
P.S. Last photo w/ "little pincher claw marks radiating at end" were likely from its telson, which limulids use to reorient or flip.
Thank you for your expert help interpreting the traces! Alt text out of my expertise is always a challenge 😅, but I very much welcome corrections & opportunities to learn more. 😊
(The spirals are my favorite too. 🥰)
You're very welcome, & I hear you about adding alt text outside of expertise leading to much fretting. Ditto about welcoming corrections for the sake of learning & grateful to get them.
Meanwhile, time to check on flights to Delaware and nearby environs. I'd love to see feasting red knots, too!
