The horseshoe crab is found along the eastern coast of North and Central America, from Maine to Yucatan, with the largest population being in the Delaware Bay region. Beaches provide an essential habitat for adult horseshoe crabs to spawn, while the shallow waters are a necessary nursery habitat.

The horseshoe crab eats all kinds of mollusks, dead fish and algae. They feed by crawling over their food. Horseshoe crabs, despite the name, are in fact not crabs at all. They are related to scorpions. They are believed to have existed well before the dinosaurs. The horseshoe crab, despite its menacing appearance, is completely harmless to humans. They have ten eyes and can see UV light.

Horseshoe crabs are one of the oldest living fossils in the United States. Pollution has the potential to adversely impact the horseshoe crab population and its habitat. Although populations are declining, they are neither threatened nor endangered.

Horseshoe crabs can be seen and touched in the Georgia Explorer gallery of the Aquarium.

• The horseshoe crab’s mouth is located amongst its five pairs of legs.
• Because of their hard armor, the shark is virtually their only predator.
• The horseshoe crabs you see on the beach are all adults.
• Fossils of horseshoe crabs have been dated at 360 million years old.
• Its tail is used to plow through sand and to act as a rudder when steering itself.

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