Horseshoe Crab
Horseshoe Crab tagging cute kids

You and Your Kids Can Help Horseshoe Crabs Stay in Long Island Sound; Your Kids’ Kids Will Thank You

By |
Download PDF

One of nature’s oldest – but diminishing – beach mating rituals is about to begin its annual springtime cycle, and The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk needs volunteers to help document it. — an announcement from the Maritime Aquarium

During the new and full moons each spring, horseshoe crabs come up out of Long Island Sound to spawn in the sand. It’s a perfect time to place tags on the animals for an ongoing horseshoe crab census, which has helped to show a steady decrease in their local population. Despite this decrease, enough crabs still come ashore that the Aquarium staff needs volunteers to help. “Joining this effort helps to provide important data about this amazing creature, which has survived since before the time of the dinosaurs but whose numbers are struggling,” said Bridget Cervero, Senior Education Manager for the Aquarium.

Maritime Aquarium
Horseshoe Crab Culture Lab

Maritime Aquarium’s New Horseshoe Crab Culture Lab Combines Research with Exhibit

By |
Download PDF

The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk is inviting guests to follow along as it seeks insights into horseshoe crabs, a favored marine creature whose mystique and environmental importance make up for what it rather lacks in charm. — an announcement from the Maritime Aquarium

The Maritime Aquarium recently opened its new “Horseshoe Crab Culture Lab,” where staff will investigate the creatures’ physical processes, food preferences, breeding behaviors and more. A lab window lets Aquarium guests check out the work, especially following along as tiny young horseshoe crabs molt their exoskeletons to grow. “I look at this exhibit and I see a perfect marriage of everything that the Maritime Aquarium does well: from our exhibits to our education programs to our conservation work in the field,” said Aquarium President Jason Patlis. The lab was created thanks to a gift from Richard and Kim Alexander of Rowayton and their family’s Ballard Foundation.