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Limulus Polyphemus's Life Cycle: Horseshoe Crabs

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Life Cycle: Limulus polyphemus spend their adult life either in estuaries or on the continental shelf during the winter months (ASMFC 2015). It is during the spring in which the horseshoe crabs migrate back to sandy beaches to spawn. Typically, spawning takes places during high tide with a new or full moon but is much higher during nights with a full moon. . During spawning the males grasp onto the females before heading to shore. Once the pair is on the beach, the female will then dig multiple nests or clusters and deposit her eggs while the male fertilizes them (National Wildlife Federation 2015). The areas chosen for egg laying are typically within bays and coves, which protects the nests from wave energy (ASMFC 2015). Each year a female will lay about 90,000 eggs in different clusters. These eggs play the most vital ecological role for migrating shorebirds as an energy source. Without areas such as the Delaware Bay, where the largest spawning population in the world is found, the migratory birds such as the Red Knot would not have a rest area with the appropriate amount of energy resources to refuel their …show more content…

Approximately, two or more weeks after the eggs have been laid, larval horseshoe crabs will emerge from the eggs. These larva then migrate to near shore waters and settle on the sandy bottom of tidal flats where they will further develop for another year or so (National Wildlife Federation 2015). As the horseshoe crab larva develops over these next few years, it will gradually move to deeper water and begin eating food more typical of an adult. Limulus polyphemus will reach reproductive age after about ten years. During these years and those after, horseshoe crabs will molt shedding their exoskeleton allowing them to grow a larger shell for their growing size (National Wildlife Federation 2015). Horseshoe crabs will typically molt 16 or 17 times during their

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