Project Limulus Update

This was a good week for the Menunkatuck Project Limulus team. Ned, Melanie, Vaughn, and I managed to get out on the beach to do the survey twice. We didn't expect to find any crabs yet because it's still very early in the season, so we were surprised when we spotted a horseshoe crab at the water's edge. We made note of him on our data sheet and then took him further out into the water to release him. ( We would have tagged him also, but we didn't have our tags yet. ) Unfortunately, he didn't seem well because he couldn't unfold his shell, couldn't walk, and he kept tipping over onto his back. Among the other mollusks which were living on his shell, were some good sized blue mussels. We wondered if he was an elderly crab, coming into the beach to die.

On Wednesday, April 28, Melanie, Ned, Vaughn, and I went to a planning meeting for Project Limulus at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield. Jennifer Mattei and Mark Beekey ( Sacred Heart professors in charge of the study ) spoke with us about the data they have collected so far and the plan for the study this year. There were 11,000 crabs tagged in 2009, many by volunteers like us!

The best thing that happened for the horseshoe crabs this week was that Pam Johnson, Senior Staff Writer for the Guilford Courier, wrote a wonderful article about Project Limulus. The timing was perfect to publicize our need for more volunteers and also the upcoming presentation all about horseshoe crabs and Project Limulus. For info. on the May 7th program, please refer to Menunkauck's Home Page. If you would like to read the article from the Guilford Courier, go to www.zip06.com, then select Guilford.

My team members and I are looking forward to the next survey period which will be May 11th through May 15th. We're delighted that we'll have 3 new volunteers joining us at that time. I have also just received several inquiries as a result of the newspaper article. Yay! The more the merrier!