Horseshoe Crab

So last month when I was doing some course project at the nearby beach, I get to see horseshoe crabs which was released by some of the final year students there. They're using them for a final year project earlier. This is my first time seeing an alive one, so I was very excited. I'd like to share some info on horseshoe crab with all of you,

Kingdom: Animalia.

Phylum: Arthropoda (joint-legged animals)

Class: Merostomata (mouth surrounded by legs)

Order: Xiphosurida (sword-tailed animals)

Famili: Limulidae (from Latin Limulus: somewhat odd, oblique)

Interesting Facts on Horseshoe Crab:

• They have blue blood.
• One of the primitive animals that haven't extinct.
• Earliest fossils found are 45 million years old. 
• Has changed remarkably little in the last 250 million years.
• Reach sexual maturity between 9 to 12 years of age.
• The female can lay between 2-30 thousand eggs during spawning season.
  
  
  
  
  I'd the chance to record the event, below is the video (forgive the noise..)

**All images and video is taken using 1.3MP camera which explain their lack of sharpness and clearity.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_crab
http://tolweb.org/treehouses/?treehouse_id=4822


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