Project Limulus Update: They're back!

A group of 12 Project Limulus volunteers met at Indian Cove on Sunday night,May 15th., at 9:40 and the crabs were finally there. We counted 6 during the actual survey but we were able to tag a total of 17. Sixteen crabs were tagged at the public beach and 1 was tagged at the private beach.

We are doing the survey by simple count now rather than dividing the beach into quadrats as we did during the last 2 years. We just walk through the water along the length of the beach, from the water's edge to 3 meters out, and tally single males, single females, pairs, and females with 2 or more males. After completing the survey we tag, tag, tag! Mark Beekey and Jennifer Mattei ( Sacred Heart profs in charge of the study ) decided to change the protocol for beaches measuring under 150 meters. It is much quicker and doesn't require as many people. It felt great to be out there again, getting up close and personal with the horseshoe crabs! We are hoping to count and tag many more crabs over the next few weeks now that their spawning season is under way.