{"id":12667,"date":"2013-04-18T11:27:15","date_gmt":"2013-04-18T16:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=12667"},"modified":"2013-04-23T14:25:46","modified_gmt":"2013-04-23T19:25:46","slug":"salt-marsh-awakening-juvenile-horseshoe-crabs-active-on-outer-cape-cod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=12667","title":{"rendered":"Salt Marsh Awakening: Juvenile Horseshoe Crabs Active on Outer Cape Cod"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Tiny, Silver-Dollar Sized Juvenile Horseshoe Crab<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It isn’t springtime for the Turtle Journal team until juvenile horseshoe crabs emerge from winter slumber from underneath the soft, muddy bottoms of salt marsh channels.\u00c2\u00a0 Like everything else\u00c2\u00a0this year, that emergence seems to have been delayed nearly a month by a\u00c2\u00a0chilly March and April.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0We first discovered active horseshoe crabs on April 18th in South Wellfleet on Outer Cape Cod.\u00c2\u00a0 Last year we recorded a mid-March emergence of juvenile horseshoe crabs; see Mid-March Emergence of Juvenile Horseshoe Crabs<\/a>, which also provides a detailed morphological examination of these critters.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Juvenile Horseshoe Crab Tracks in Marsh Channel<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Juvenile horseshoe crabs spend their first couple of years in protected salt marsh channels before venturing outside this nursery habitat.\u00c2\u00a0 As we peeked into marsh creeks of South Wellfleet last Thursday, we saw a large number of juvenile horseshoe crab tracks carved into the soft bottom.\u00c2\u00a0 If you solve the maze and figure out where the critter is heading, you can find the juvenile horseshoe crab burrowed at the end of the line; that is, in theory.\u00c2\u00a0 In practice, though …. well, it simply takes a lot of practice, so to speak, to actually find these elusive critters.\u00c2\u00a0 Unlike adults, juvenile shells are light colored in tones that blend perfectly with marsh channel bottoms.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Two Juvenile Horseshoe Crabs<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We found a number of horseshoe crabs and selected these two perfect\u00c2\u00a0juveniles to examine more closely.\u00c2\u00a0 The tiny horseshoe crab on the right is about the size of a silver dollar.\u00c2\u00a0 The one on the left is about the size of a hockey puck.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The horseshoe crab’s exoskeleton (shell) does not expand.\u00c2\u00a0 To grow, horseshoe crabs must molt, as many as five times in the first year, three in the 2nd, two in the third and once a year thereafter until maturity is achieved after nearly a decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Two Juvenile Horseshoe Crabs<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In the set-up photograph above, the size differential between the two juveniles horseshoe crabs is more easily discernible.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Spring Awakening of \u00c2\u00a0Juvenile Horseshoe Crabs<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Before releasing these critters back into the salt marsh, we took a few moments to observe their movements and behavior.<\/p>\n

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Tiny Juvenile Horseshoe Crab<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The tiny juvenile horseshoe crab was quite small, about the size of a Liberty silver\u00c2\u00a0dollar.\u00c2\u00a0 All of its point and edges where sharp and fresh, as though the critter\u00c2\u00a0had freshly molted.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ventral (Bottom) Side of Tiny Juvenile Horseshoe Crab<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The ventral (bottom) view of this tiny horseshoe crab clearly shows the five pairs of walking legs, the forward feeding pincers (Chelicerae), and the rear book gills.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The telson (tail spine) has slipped between Don’s fingers.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tiny, Silver-Dollar Sized Juvenile Horseshoe Crab It isn’t springtime for the Turtle Journal team until juvenile horseshoe crabs emerge from winter slumber from underneath the soft, muddy bottoms of salt marsh channels.\u00c2\u00a0 Like everything else\u00c2\u00a0this year, that emergence seems to have been delayed nearly a month by a\u00c2\u00a0chilly March and April.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0We first discovered active horseshoe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[402],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12667"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12667"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12717,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12667\/revisions\/12717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}