Horseshoe Crabs Really Count: Judy Knowles Leads Local Census

Judy Knowles admits she has a soft place in her heart for all creatures creepy crawly, which helps explain why she's embraced the cause of local horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus).

The Guilford native's an avid wildlife lover, former wildlife rehabilitator, and current Menunkatuck Audubon Society board member. Last spring, working with the society, Judy gathered a small group of volunteers to conduct a local Project Limulus horseshoe crab survey here.

Now, as the curious creatures once again crawl ashore to spawn, Judy hopes many more volunteers will join her to count crabs on local Guilford beaches.

"The training is so simple and it's fun, especially when you find crabs," says Judy, who's also blogging about Project Limulus on the society's website, www.menunkatuck.org

Project Limulus is a study of Long Island Sound horseshoe crabs by Fairfield-based Sacred Heart University's biology department, which is investigating whether crab numbers are dwindling. In addition to counting crabs, volunteer Citizen Science Investigators (CSIs) physically tag crabs and also report information from recaptured crabs that were tagged during previous surveys.

This year, Judy thanks her friend Lorri Shaw for bringing a Project Limulus information session to Guilford on Friday,

May 7, featuring Sacred Heart team member Mark Beekey (7 p.m. in the Guilford Fire Department Community Meeting Room, 390 Church Street). Those who can't attend the information session can still volunteer for Guilford's crab count/tagging program, with

Judy providing on-the-spot training. the crab's plentiful eggs (a female can lay 80,000 a year) are critical to the survival of migrating birds and other members of the ecosystem. In addition, humans rely heavily on the properties of its unique blood.

"It has a protein that's used in vaccines to test for the presence of bacteria," explains Judy.

Yet masses of horseshoe crabs continue to be killed and used as bait by commercial fishermen (with females the most prized). In addition, labs collect and bleed countless horseshoe crabs, then release them, but the jury's out on the survival rate of the released crabs. That's why it's all the more important for Project Limulus to help get a closer count of the crabs. The study could provide the data necessary to begin calling for better conservation of this incredibly misunderstood creature.

"They're living fossils that have been on this planet for 445 million years," says Judy. "They don't pinch, they don't bite, and they don't sting. Unfortunately, they're not the most attractive animal and, for years, people killed them," fearing their spine-like tails.

The tails are actually a lever horseshoe crabs use to right themselves when flipped. Each crab's helmet-shaped shell (females' are bigger) protects a scorpion-style body through which courses copper-based blood. That's why it turns blue when exposed to oxygen, explains Judy.

A fan of unusual living creatures since about the time she discovered her first walking stick insect (at age nine), Judy learned the plight of the horseshoe crab after her husband Vaughn suggested she might be interested in attending a Project Limulus workshop in Madison about two years ago.

After she became a Menunkatuck Audubon Society board member last year, Judy says she knew the society's commitment to work locally to preserve the natural ecosystem would be a good fit for Project Limulus and offered to take it on as her board member project.

"Last year was my first year of us doing a survey. It was a small group, just four of us," says Judy.

Judy and Vaughn (the couple owns Guilford's The Place restaurant) were joined in the effort by Melanie Tolley of Guilford and Ned Macomb of Madison. Armed with a measured-rope "quadrat" system and clipboards, they counted beach-visiting crabs in Indian Cove near the Knowles's home.

The group of four Guilford volunteers tagged some 70 horseshoe crabs last year, but with more manpower, much more can be done, says Judy.

"Last year, Branford Land Trust tagged over 400 horseshoe crabs. They have a lot of volunteers and that's the thing we need here, volunteers," she says. "We would love to get teams for Jacob's Beach."

Project Limulus begins in late April/early May this year and runs into July. Three sessions, with three days of study periods, will be held every 28 days (new moon and full moon) at high tides.