Horseshoe crab from The animal life of our seashore.

The animal life of our seashore.

Horseshoe crab.

You’re looking at an animal that has been around a very long time. Horseshoe crabs wandered Earth even before the age of the dinosaurs! They have a hard exoskeleton that sort of looks like a helmet and 10 walking legs. Their long, sharp tails may look dangerous, but they’re actually harmless. The tails of Horseshoe crabs are not weapons, but tools that come in handy when a crab accidentally flips upside down and needs to flip right-side up again. Being upside down is not always bad though. Horseshoe crabs swim upside down in the open ocean. There are four species of horseshoe crab. This one is from the species that populates the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America. The other three species can be found in Southeast Asia. Be careful not to step on one at night on a beach if you are in these regions. Horseshoe crabs do most of their feeding at night and in the dark, you may not see them. But, they will see you! Their eyes are extra sensitive to light at night, and they have a lot of eyes: 10 in total!