Horseshoe Crab: Biography of a Survivor

by Anthony D. Fredericks, Glenn Gauvry (Foreword)

Traveling from the Delaware Bay to the Florida Panhandle, this examination is a quest through the natural history and science behind one of nature’s oldest and oddest survivors—the horseshoe crab. With ten eyes, five pairs of walking legs, a heart half the length of their bodies, and blood that can save a person’s life, horseshoe crabs have been on this planet for 445 million years—since long before the dinosaurs arrived. This book explores their unique biology and sex life, explains their importance to medical science and migratory shorebirds, and introduces readers to the people who are working to study and protect them.

Genres: Science, Biology, Nonfiction, Animals, History, Nature, Natural History

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this since I love horseshoe crabs, but I couldn't appreciate the analogies (Earth as a cherry pie? Didn't work for me.), science fiction references, or the old movie references. I learned some new things, especially about historic harvesting and horseshoe crab vision research.

[Daphne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a splendidly interesting book about a subject I knew next to nothing going in. It was written in a very friendly style. Fredericks invited us into his world of exploring the horseshoe crab, what it means to the world, and what it means for him. It is endearing up to a point, but I know I wouldn't be able to tolerate most of my science books written this way.

Writing about natural history lends itself better to this sort of personal journalistic approach much better than most other science topics. He actually avoids making it too personal like many natural history/nature writers tend to end up doing (here's looking at you Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle and Wolves and Honey: A Hidden History of the Natural World). Both of those books I either despised by the end (wolves) or just walked away from ambivalent (feathers).

[Susan Foley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have long been a fan of horseshoe crabs:)
Reading this book filled in a lot of information about them I was missing and confirmed that they are very special, unique, and fascinating creatures that deserve respect and protection.

[ry ✧ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a recommendation for an internship legitimately enjoyed it!

The combination of emotion, humanity, and science will always be one of my favorite things :)

[Ashley K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this for Delaware Audubon book club and we had a delightful virtual meet-and-greet with the author, which was a real treat (and set a high bar for future book club meetings!). We chose this as our inaugural book selection because of its obvious relevance to Delaware birds (for those who don't know, many migratory shorebirds fuel up on horseshoe crab eggs on the beaches of the Delaware Bay each spring). Aside from their importance to birds, horseshoe crabs are perhaps most noteworthy as human life-savers due to their biomedical use; a product from their blood, LAL, is used to test syringes, vaccines, etc. for contamination. The last trivia tidbit that I find particularly fascinating about them is their antiquity; they've remained relatively unchanged over 400 million years (which would make it particularly devastating if we let them go extinct on our watch).

[Steve Barrera · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this at a gift shop at a museum or park and took a while to get around to reading it. It was presumably in Delaware as I learned from reading this book that horseshoe crabs abound in the Delaware Bay, and I frequently vacation on the beaches near there. The author is a professor of education and a prolific writer. He has a somewhat flippant style and often made jokes that I didn't think were funny and that got in the way of the narrative. Then when he wrote about the science, it often read like he copy-pasted out of a textbook. But ignoring this annoying writing style, I did learn a lot of weird and interesting stuff about these millions-of-years-old creatures. Did you know that their mouths are surrounded by their legs, and that they have ten eyes? I also learned about the commerical exploitation of horseshoe crabs, including their critical role in the medical industry, and about their conservation. While I often didn't like the writing style, I could still detect the author's passion for the work and the subject, and I did expand my knowledge, so consider this a book well read.

[Brandi Snell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. Horseshoe crabs are one of my favorite critters. We have them here in lower Alabama. As a docent at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab's Estuarium, I get to show these wonderful animals to our visitors. I can't wait to share some of the new information , that I learned from this book with future visitors.

[Patricia Hilliard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative about horseshoe crabs, but also about environmentalists and ecologists, telling what they do and how they work to save the crabs. Also amazing is how we humans have used this dinosaur to protect our own health.

[Dane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I get some didn’t like the analogies the author used and I get that. But I’m giving 5 stars because the author did a good job of condensing a lot of information into a readable format. This was the first book I read on horseshoe crabs and I found it to be very helpful.

[Andrew Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting content, bad writing, worse editing.

[Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read with interviews with several guardians of the horseshoe crabs. Underscores our connections and debt to this another species.

[Bella Conety · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not expect to laugh as much as I did with this book. Such cool stories on a cool creature with lots of dry humor sprinkled throughout.

[Trish Remley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would normally give this book in the manner it was written 3 stars, but because of the information I learned, it gets 4 stars. Growing up horseshoe crabs use to wash up on the shore of our camp in Maine all the time, but the numbers decreased in adulthood (although we have noticed a few more in recent years). We have one very large shell in the living room forever. I never thought they were ugly as mentioned in the book - I thought they were very cool. Anyway to learn that they are 445 million years old. First dinosaurs appeared 230 million years ago. Epicenter of horseshoe numbers are in the Delaware Bay but found from Maine to all around the Florida Coast. Collected in mass in 1850's for fertilizer..... 1967 Dr. Harline was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for research on their vision. Relates to our vision. Horseshoe Carbs (HC) have 10 eyes.... Rabbit blood was used for many years to test for bacteria for anything medical that would be ingested, needles, joint replacements, organs, etc. 1953 Substance in blood cells of HC found to be extremely sensitive to endotoxins. Endotoxins associated with gram negative bacteria such as E. Coli & salmonella. Similar to rabbit blood. 1977 LAL approved test by FDA. Whole industry developed to mine this HC blood. Crabs are dissenfected, bent in half, needle injected into the heart, collect blood, centrifuged, hole drilled in shell for identification, released back into the ocean, to repeat again and again........ Very tight relationship between migrating birds (particularly Red Knots, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings) migrating from far southern reaches of South America to the Artic Circle. Main stop in Delaware bay when HC come up out of the ocean and lay eggs in the sandy beaches to only be massively eaten by these migrating birds. Even though the amount eaten is huge, obviously still so many make it to maturity, although the percentage of the overall total is very small! Lots more interesting facts in this book. THANK YOU HORSESHOE CRABS (Limulus polyphemus)!!!!!!