Horseshoe Crab- Marine Living Fossil

Context: 

Recently,Environmental groups petitioned the U.S. government seeking protection for the American horseshoe crab, a “living fossil”.

About Horseshoe Crab

• These are Marine and brackish water arthropods belonging to the Limulidae family.
• Ancient Origins : Thrived for over 450 million years, predating dinosaurs. 
• Appearance:
  • It resembles prehistoric crabs, but closer relatives are scorpions and spiders. 
• Habitat : They prefer shallow coastal waters with soft sandy or muddy bottoms.
  • Spawning: They migrate to intertidal beaches for spawning, primarily during summer-spring high tides. 
    • This timing ensures their eggs are deposited in moist sand, essential for development.

• Type of Horseshoe Crab Species & Habitat  

• • Atlantic or American horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus): 
    • Found on the Atlantic coast of the US and the Southeast Gulf of Mexico. 
    • IUCN Status: Vulnerable
  • Tri-spine horseshoe crab (Tachypleus tridentatus):
    • Coastal waters of Odisha (India), southeast Asia, China, and Japan. 
    • IUCN: Endangered
  • Coastal horseshoe crab (Tachypleus gigas): Similar range as the tri-spine species.
  • Mangrove horseshoe crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda): Found in mangrove habitats of Southeast Asia.

Threats

• They face threats due to Commercial Harvest for food, bait & Biomedical Use and Habitat loss : Coastal Reclamation & Development, Shoreline Alteration, Climate change etc

Conservation Efforts To Horseshoe Crab

• In India: Placed in Schedule IV of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 in 2009.
  •  This inclusion means that catching and killing a horseshoe crab is an offense. 

• IUCN Status

  • It placed them into the Red list of Threatened species.
  • It observes International Horseshoe crab Day on 20th June.

News Source: The Hindu

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