Skate and Horseshoe Crab Fact Sheet

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Skate Egg Case A skate egg case is also referred to as a “mermaid’s purse.” Each one of these black cases is about 3-4 inches in length. Each year, a female will lay two fertilized eggs, each in its own casing, every 3 to 5 days. Skates lay anywhere from 60-82 eggs annually. The egg case has a total of four “hooks” so it can anchor itself to seaweed or other substrate on the ocean floor. The “hooks” also serve the purpose of providing oxygen to the developing embryo through a small hole at the end. The egg case is made from the same substance as human finger nails (keratin). Depending on the species of skate, it can take 3-15 months for the skate to hatch. Most of the ones you find washed up on the beach are empty, the eggs having already hatched. Egg case photo credit: Kira Dacanay, Senior Fisheries Biologist, Marine Fisheries Administration Photo credit: James Maloney, Hourly Technician, Marine Fisheries Administration Atlantic Horseshoe Crab, Limulus polyphemus Did you know that Horseshoe Crabs are closer in relation to spiders than crabs? Or that the genus Limulus is documented to have existed in the Triassic Period? The fossil record shows the earliest ancestor of the Horseshoe Crab dates back 350 million years. Horseshoe Crabs are scavengers that feed on sea worms, small mollusks, crustaceans and anything decaying on the ocean floor. Their blood is blue due to a copper-based respiratory pigment called hempcyanin. The blood also contains a protein called Limulus Amebocyte Lysate. This protein is used by pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers to test their products for evidence of endotoxins and bacterial substances. If these substances are present, they can cause a fever in humans and possibly death. Horseshoe Crabs spend most of their time offshore in depths up to 100 feet but come ashore in late spring to spawn. .

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The ′Crab′ That Might Have Saved Your Life
Advertisement TOP STORIES / ENVIRONMENT / GLOBAL IDEAS GLOBAL IDEAS The 'crab' that might have saved your life Closely related to the spider and around since long before the dinosaurs, the horseshoe crab has light blue blood that's vital for medical research. But can these living fossils survive the age of man? In the waters along the eastern seaboards of the United States and several East Asian countries, lives a species so dogged in its determination to defy decimation, it's earned the tag of "living fossil." "They crawled underneath the legs of dinosaurs and the dinosaurs were on earth for 150 million years," said John Tanacredi, a professor at Molloy College in New York and an eminent authority on horseshoe crabs, which could be the most amazing species many people have never heard of. "Of course, the mass extinction event 65 million years ago that saw the demise of the dinosaurs — both terrestrial and in the marine environment — makes it even more unique that these animals have survived." More on dinosaurs: Dinosaurs are extinct because an asteroid hit the wrong spot Technically, they're not crabs, nor are they shaped like a horseshoe, exactly. Like crabs though, they're arthropods, but the four different species of the animal belong to the subphylum chelicerata, and so are closely related to arachnids such as spiders. The animals have an almost alien quality to their appearance. They grow to about 60 centimeters (23 inches) in length have hard, helmet-like outer shells, five pairs of legs with a mouth located at their center, and several pairs of eyes distributed across their bodies.
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Horseshoe Crab Limulus Polyphemus
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R&D Horseshoe Crab – A Valuable Marine Creature by Anil Chatterji and Noraznawati Ismail The ancestors of the horseshoe crab crabs, these five pairs are highly University Malaysia Terengganu are believed to have inhabited brackish specialized appendages with broad, flat or freshwater environments. Fossil and overlapping plates. The external The ocean is a treasure trove of many records show that the oldest horseshoe gills of the horseshoe crab were partly living and non living resources. About 26 crabs were similar to the aglaspids, with developed from these appendages. phyla of marine organisms are found in less abdominal segments but without the ocean, whereas arthropods (jointed well defined appendages. The five pairs Horseshoe crab habitat limbs and an outer shell, which the of walking legs, discontinuing at the The horseshoe crab belongs to the animals moult as they grow), with over abdomen, were present in the primitive benthic community. They prefer calm 35,000 varieties, contribute four-fifth of forms. Gradually, the first four pairs seas or estuaries with muddy sandy all marine animal species. Surprisingly, a started developing pinching claws, bottoms for their biogenic activities. They number of marine organisms, suspected whereas, the last pair terminated in migrate to the shore from the deeper to be extinct, still flourish as living primitive spines. In modern horseshoe waters specifically for breeding purposes. animals. The horseshoe crab, a chelicerate During this shoreward migration the arthropod, is one such amazing creature animal is subjected to a wide range of and is considered to be the oldest 'living environmental conditions including fossil'. salinity and temperature.
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