More than 250,000 horsehoe crabs have already been released in conservation effort
Editor’s Note: For further information, please contact Caitlin O’Brien at 609-884-3139, or Caitlin.e.obrien@rutgers.edu.
WHAT: National Estuaries Day, release of horseshoe crabs, tour of the New Jersey Aquaculture Innovation Center
WHERE: Rutgers Aquaculture Innovation Center, 3920 Bayshore Road, North Cape May, N.J.
WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 28, 10 a.m. tours; 11 a.m. horseshoe crab release
WHO: Rutgers staff and researchers, local citizens and visitors and a couple of hundred horseshoe crabs
BACKGROUND: Horseshoe crabs are a key species in the Delaware estuary and the subject of conservation efforts. They are used in medical research and as bait by the fishing industry. Their energy-rich eggs are eaten by migratory birds. At the New Jersey Aquaculture Innovation Center, managed by Rutgers University, fertilized horseshoe crab eggs collected from Delaware Bay beaches are hatched and grown for approximately three months, a period of time when the crabs are most vulnerable to predation. The crabs are then released to support the conservation effort, and some hatchlings are tagged to gather information on their early life history. More than 250,000 young horseshoe crabs were released this past summer.