Project Limulus Update

Our fourth crab census began on June 10th., during the new moon. No horseshoe crabs were seen during the morning survey. At the 10:00 p.m. survey we counted only one crab. The crabs began to appear after the survey, which is often the case. We were able to tag 8 and we had two recaptures. Recaptures are crabs which have been previously tagged.

On Saturday, June 12th., Project Limulus volunteer, Nina Ellison graciously agreed to be in charge of the morning survey. She and the rest of the very competent team conducted the survey and again found no crabs. That night we only counted one pair, and tagged 4. It seems that we are now past the peak time for spawning.

On Monday, June 14th., the a.m. survey yielded nothing, as usual. The crabs in Indian Cove are definitely creatures of the night! Amy Hopkins took charge of the 1:10 a.m. survey, giving Vaughn and me the night off to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Thank you Amy, Leigh, Katie, and Nina for coming out to count crabs in middle of the night. That is true dedication! They had success, counting 10 crabs, tagging 6, and finding 3 recaptures.