Horseshoe Crab

To find out if the horseshoe crab population on Long Island is dwindling, as has been reported by some experts, the Long Island Horseshoe Crab Network, headed by Dr. John T. Tanacredi, Chairman of the Department of Earth and Marine Sciences at Dowling College, will conduct its second annual Super-Inventory of Horseshoe Crabs (HSC) on Long Island.

Dr. John T. Tanacredi

"Over the last 10 years there has been considerable controversy over the extent to which horseshoe crab harvesting has impacted the species' existence,” explained Dr. Tanacredi. ”It is general knowledge that HSC habitat covers from the coast of Maine to Florida, with Long Island historically having a robust population of HSC. Anecdotal information from ‘coast-wise’ people have recently expressed concerns that once large numbers of HSC observed each year, are today a mere skeletal population."

Anyone sighting a horseshoe crab, along the coast of Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island, is asked to make report through this form from May 1st. The information to be collected includes name, address, telephone number and e-mail of the reporter, date, time, location and condition of tide, number of Horseshoe Crabs, number living and dead, male, and female at sighting. Instructions are available for determining sex and measuring size by clicking this link. Researchers from the HSC Network will be using the data collected to target sites that require additional information to be collected during site visits. All data collected both through the web based reporting system and planned site visits will be recorded to Long Island Map of Horseshoe Crab habitats. This is a multi-year study that will help identify the trends with regard to Horseshoe Crabs around Long Island. The HSC Network invites everyone to join in and help protect a species 350 million years in the making.