Abstract
This paper is based on the premise that understanding the natural history and ecology of the horseshoe crabs (Limulacea) is paramount to conservation of the species. Our objective has been to select those large-scale, global parameters that help to define the opportunities for, and the limits on, their distribution. Essentially, we have selected the big-picture type of conditions pertinent to considerations of the conservation of the species. This has led to an examination of potential biotic and environmental parameters. Of these we have selected eight, four in each category. The biotic aspects are: who they are (taxonomically), whether they are living fossils, what they are (ecologically), and the significance of discrete populations in conservation of the species. Four large-scale environmental parameters that limit their global distribution are geologic (estuarine environments, continental shelves as avenues of distribution, ocean deeps as deterrents), temperature which sets boundaries, tidal types that define predominant potential spawning sites, and the influence of benthic currents.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson LI, Shuster CN Jr (2003) Throughout geologic time: where have they lived? In: Shuster CN Jr, Barlow RB, Brockman HJ (eds) The American Horseshoe Crab. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 189–223
Berkson J, Shuster, CN Jr (1999) The horseshoe crab: the battle for a true multiple–use resource. Fisheries 24(11):6–10
Botton ML (1984a) Diet and food preference of the adult horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus in Delaware Bay, New Jersey, USA. Mar Biol 81:199–207
Botton ML (1984b) The importance of predation by horseshoe crabs, Limulus polyphemus, to an intertidal sand flat community. J Mar Res 42:139–161
Botton ML, Shuster CN Jr (2003) Horseshoe crabs in a food web: who eats whom? In: Shuster CN Jr, Barlow RB, Brockmann HJ (eds) The American Horseshoe Crab. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 133–151
Brady JT, Schrading E (1983) Habitat sustainability index models: horseshoe crab (spawning) Delaware Bay, New Jersey and Delaware (developed for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District, Pennsylvania – Cape May Villas and Reeds Beach Habitat Evaluation Procedures)
deSylva DP, Kalber FA Jr, Shuster CN Jr (1962) Fishes and Ecological Conditions in the Shore Zone of the Delaware River Estuary, with Notes on Other Species Collected in Deeper Water. University of Delaware Marine Laboratories, Newark, DE, Information Series Publication 5, pp 1–170
Doty MS (1957) Rocky intertidal surfaces. In: Hedgpeth JW (ed) Treatise on Marine Ecology and Paleoecology. Vol 1: Ecology. Geological Society of America Memoir 67(1), pp 535–585
Ehlinger GS, Tankersley RA (2003) Larval hatching in the horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, facilitation by environmental clues. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 292:199–212
Ehlinger GS, Tankersley RA, Bush MB (2003) Spatial and temporal patterns of spawning and larval hatching by the horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, in a microtidal coastal lagoon. Estuaries 26:631–640
Ehlinger GS, Tankersley RA (2005) Survival and development of horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) embryos and larvae in hypersaline conditions. Biol Bull 206:87–94
Eldredge N (1991) Fossils: The Evolution and Extinction of Species. Harry V. Abrams, New York
Hubbs CL, Hubbs C (1953) An improved graphical analysis and comparison of a series of examples. System Zool 2:49–56, 92
Iwasaki Y, Iwami T, Sekiguchi K (1988) Karyology. In Sekiguchi K (ed) Biology of Horseshoe Crabs, Science House, Inc., Tokyo, pp 309–314
Jegla TC, Costlow JD (1982) Temperature and salinity effects on developmental and early posthatch stages of Limulus. In: Bonaventura J, Bonaventura C, Tesh S (eds) Physiology and Biology of Horseshoe Crabs. Alan R. Liss, New York, pp 103–113
Keinath J (2003) Predation of horseshoe crabs by loggerhead sea turtles. In Shuster CN Jr, Barlow RB, Brockmann HJ (eds) The American Horseshoe Crab. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 152–153
King TL, Eackles MS, Spidle AP, Brockmann HJ (2003) Regional differentiation and sex-biased dispersal among populations of the horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus. Trans Am Fish Soc 134:441–465
Kraeuter JN, Fegley SR (1994) Vertical disturbance of sediments by horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) during their spawning season. Estuaries 17:288–294
Loveland RE, Botton ML, Shuster CN Jr (1997) Life history of the American horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus L.) in Delaware Bay and it importance in a commercial resource. In: Farrell J, Martin C (eds) Proceedings of the Horseshoe Crab Forum: Status of the Resource. University of Delaware Sea Grant Program, Lewes, DE, publ DEL-SG-05-97, pp 15–22
Mayer AG (1914) The effects of temperature upon tropical marine animals. Pap Tortugas Lab, Carnegie Inst Publ 183(6): 1–14
Pierce JC, Tan C, Gaffney PM (2000) Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay populations of the horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus are genetically distinct. Estuaries 23:690–698
Parr AF (1933) A geographic-ecological analysis of the seasonal changes in temperature in shallow water along the coast of the United States. Bull Bingham Oceanogr Coll 4(3):1–37
Reeside JB Jr., Harris DV (1952) A Cretaceous horseshoe crab from Colorado. J Washington Acad Sci 41:174–178
Reynolds WW, Casterlin ME (1979) Thermoregulatory behavior and diel activity of Limulus polyphemus. In: Cohen E, Bang FB, Levin J, Marchalonis JJ, Pistole TG, Predergast RA, Shuster C, Watson SW (eds) Biomedical Applications of the Horseshoe Crab (Limulidae). Alan R. Liss, Inc., New York, pp 47–59
Riska B (1981) Morphological variation in the horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus (L.). Evolution 35:647–658
Rudkin DM, Young GA, Nowlan GS (2008) The oldest horseshoe crab: a new xiphosurid from Late Ordovician Konservat-Lagerstatten deposits. Palaeontology 51:1–9
Rudloe AE, Heernkind WF (1976) Orientation of Limulus polyphemus in the vicinity of breeding beaches. Mar Behav Physiol 4:75–89
Saunders NC, Kessler LG, Avise JC (1986) Genetic variation and geographic differentiation in mitochondrial DNA of the horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus. Genetics 112:613–627
Sekiguchi K (1988) Biology of Horseshoe Crabs. Science House, Tokyo, pp 1–428
Sekiguchi K, Nakamura K (1979) Ecology of the extant horseshoe crabs. In: Cohen E (ed) Biomedical Applications of the Horseshoe Crab (Limulidae). Alan R. Liss, New York, pp 37–45
Sekiguchi K (1988a) Biogeography. In: Sekiguchi K (ed) Biology of Horseshoe Crabs. Science House, Tokyo, pp 22–49
Sekiguchi K (1988b) Ecology. In: Sekiguchi K (ed) Biology of Horseshoe Crabs. Science House, Tokyo, pp 50–68
Selander RK, Yang SY, Lewontin RC, Johnson WS (1970) Genetic variation in the horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), a phylogenetic “relic.” Evolution 24:402–414
Shishikura F, Nakamura S, Takahashi K, Sekiguchi K (1982) Horseshoe crab phylogeny based on amino acid sequences of the fibrino-peptide-like peptide C. J Exp Zool 223:89–91
Shuster CN Jr (1955) On Morphometric and Serological Relationships within the Limulidae, with Particular Reference to Limulus polyphemus (L.). PhD thesis, New York University, New York (1958 Diss Abstr 18, pp 371–372)
Shuster CN Jr (1958) Biological evaluation of the Delaware River estuary. In: Kaplovsky AJ, Simpson C (eds) State of Delaware Water Resources Survey. William N. Cann, Wilmington, DE, pp 1–73
Shuster CN Jr (1979) Distribution of the American horseshoe “crab,” Limulus polyphemus (L.). In: Cohen E (eds) Biomedical Applications of the Horseshoe Crab (Limulidae). Alan R. Liss, New York, pp 3–26
Shuster CN Jr (1982) A pictorial review of the natural history and ecology of the horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, with reference to other Limulidae. In: Bonaventura J, Bonaventura C, Tesh S (eds) Physiology and Biology of Horseshoe Crabs. Alan R. Liss, New York, pp 1–52
Shuster CN Jr (2001) Two perspectives: horseshoe crabs during 420 million years, worldwide, and the past 150 years in the Delaware Bay area. In: Tanacredi JT (ed) Limulus in the Limelight. Kluwer Academic/ Plenum, New York, pp 17–40
Shuster CN Jr, Anderson LI (2003) A history of skeletal structure: clues to relationships among species. In: Shuster CN Jr, Barlow RB, Brockman HJ (eds) The American Horseshoe Crab. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 154–188
Sokoloff A (1978) Observations on populations of the horseshoe crab Limulus (=Xiphosura) polyphemus. Res Popul Ecol 19:222–236
Spraker H, Austin HM (1997) Diel feeding periodicity of Atlantic silverside, Menidia menidia, in the York River, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia. J Elisha Mitchell Sci Soc 113:171–182
Swan BL (2005) Migrations of adult horseshoe crabs, Limulus polyphemus, in the middle Atlantic bight: a 17-year tagging study. Estuaries 28:28–40
Towle DW, Henry RP (2003) Coping with environmental changes: physiological challenges. In: Shuster CN Jr, Barlow RB, Brockmann HJ (eds) The American Horseshoe Crab. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 223–244
Yamasaki T (1988) Taxonomy of horseshoe crabs, In: Sekiguchi K (ed) Biology of Horseshoe Crabs. Science House, Tokyo, pp 419–421
Yamasaki T, Makioka T, Saito J (1988) External morphology. In: Sekiguchi K (ed) Biology of Horseshoe Crabs. Science House, Tokyo, pp 89–104
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sekiguchi, K., Shuster, C.N. (2009). Limits on the Global Distribution of Horseshoe Crabs (Limulacea): Lessons Learned from Two Lifetimes of Observations: Asia and America. In: Tanacredi, J., Botton, M., Smith, D. (eds) Biology and Conservation of Horseshoe Crabs. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89959-6_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89959-6_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-89958-9
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-89959-6
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)