Biology and Conservation of Horseshoe Crabs - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0387899588 ISBN 13: 9780387899589

Publisher: Springer, 2009

Synopsis

Horseshoe crabs, those mysterious ancient mariners, lured me into the sea as a child along the beaches of New Jersey. Drawn to their shiny domed shells and spiked tails, I could not resist picking them up, turning them over and watching the wondrous mechanical movement of their glistening legs, articulating with one another as smoothly as the inner working of a clock. What was it like to be a horseshoe crab, I wondered? What did they eat? Did they always move around together? Why were some so large and others much smaller? How old were they, anyway? What must it feel like to live underwater? What else was out there, down there, in the cool, green depths that gave rise to such intriguing creatures? The only way to find out, I reasoned, would be to go into the ocean and see for myself, and so I did, and more than 60 years later, I still do.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Biology and Conservation of Horseshoe Crabs, edited by Dr. John T. Tanacredi, Dr. Mark L. Botton, and Dr. David R. Smith, offers proceedings from a ground-breaking 2007 international symposium at Dowling College on the science and conservation of the horseshoe crab. Horseshoe crabs are well-known as "living fossils" with a geological history covering hundreds of millions of years and an ancestry reaching back 455 million years to the doorstep of the Cambrian. In spite of this longevity, each species now faces common and growing threats. Loss of essential spawning habitat due to erosion and shoreline development, coastal pollution, and overfishing all threaten horseshoe crab populations. Symposium participants from around the world gathered to share knowledge, present research results, and identify conservation challenges facing horseshoe crabs. This shared international knowledge and experience is presented here as a beginning in our collective efforts to conserve the world’s horseshoe crab species. Throughout the book, the reader will find results of new studies, and authoritative reviews on the science and conservation of all four of the world’s horseshoe crab species.

About the editors:

Dr. John T. Tanacredi is Chair and Professor of Earth and Marine Sciences at Dowling College. He is a Research Associate in the Invertebrate Zoology Department at the American Museum of Natural History.

Dr. Mark L. Botton is a Professor of Biology at Fordham University.

Dr. David R. Smith is a Research Biological Statistician for the U.S. Geological Survey.

Synopsis:

The four living species of horseshoe crabs face a set of growing threats to their survival, including the erosion and/or man-made alteration of essential spawning habitat, coastal pollution, and overfishing. Horseshoe crabs are 'living fossils', with a more than 200 million year evolutionary history. Their blood provides a reagent, known as Limulus amebocyte lysate or LAL, that clots in the presence of minute quantities of bacterial endotoxin; the LAL test is the state-of-the-art methodology used to ensure that pharmaceuticals and surgical implants are free of contamination. Horseshoe crabs are an integral part of the food web in coastal marine ecosystems, and their eggs provide essential food for shorebirds in the Delaware Bay estuary each spring.The commercial fishery for horseshoe crabs, which utilizes animals for bait, contributes to the economies of coastal communities. This book consists of papers presented at the 2007 International Symposium on the Science and Conservation of Horseshoe Crabs.

About this edition

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0387899588
• ISBN 13: 9780387899589
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 690
• Editor: Tanacredi John T., Botton Mark L., Smith David