Where does the horseshoe crab live?

     There are only four species of horseshoe crabs in the world. Three live in Asia in the Indo-Pacific waters. Only one lives in North America- the Limulus polyphemus. It lives along the Atlantic coast from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico.
    Horseshoe crabs can live in a variety of conditions. They can live in shallow water along the shore of a tidewater bay or inlet, or they can live offshore on the continental shelf in water seventy-five feet deep. They can live in sea water or water in an estuary that is only one fourth as salty. They can survive in a wide range of water temperatures. The only thing is that when the water starts to get cold and the water temperature goes below 55 degrees F., horseshoe crabs bury down in the mud and sand. They stay there until the water warms up again.
     There are more horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay than in any other place in the world.
They live within a radius of 50 miles from the mouth of the bay.That's because it has a very long (140 miles) uninterrupted stretch of sandy beaches that are protected from the wind and heavy waves. This makes this area an excellent habitat for horseshoe crab spawning. Then when the eggs hatch and the crabs grow older, they live offshore in deeper waters and on the continental shelf, where there is plenty of food available for them.

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