Look out for mating crabs on South Carolina beaches, officials say.
Do you think moonlit beaches are romantic? Watch your step, because so do horseshoe crabs. Spawning season has arrived for the blue-blooded arthropods, and South Carolina wildlife officials are asking people to keep an eye out for them — for research purposes.
Horseshoe crabs prefer to keep underwater but every year in spring and summer they emerge from the sea, huddle close together on beaches, and carry out the important business of laying and fertilizing eggs. “It’s a huge spring orgy,” a Beaufort fisherman told McClatchy. They often do this at night, and they’ve been doing it for at least 445 million years.
Witness anything like that recently? The state Department of Natural Resources wants you to report it. “Help be our eyes and ears on the beach,” SCDNR said in a Facebook post Friday, along with a video showing the kinds of horseshoe crab formations to look out for, ranging from clusters to conga lines. If you see groups of horseshoe crabs like this, please report their location to us.”
Department biologists are trying to track the spots where horseshoe crabs come ashore to lay their eggs, according to SCDNR.
https://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/state/south-carolina/article250569119.html
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