How a Horseshoe Crab Eats
A horseshoe crabs
eats almost anything from algae to dead fish, but its favorite foods are
marine worms and small clams. In the Delaware Bay the horseshoe crabs eat
soft-shell clams and small surf clams.
A horseshoe
crab's mouth is not in the place that you would think it is. It is a slit
between its legs.
photo permission: Assateague Naturalist
To get food a horseshoe crab plows slowly along
the bottom of the ocean or bay. Since it's dark at the bottom, it uses
its chelicera (the first pair of pincers on its underside) and the sensitive
bristles on its legs to feel for food under the muck.
photo permission: Assateague Naturalist
Horseshoe crabs don't have noses, but some scientists
think the bristles on their legs can detect chemicals in the water given
off by the things the horseshoe crabs like to eat.The horseshoe crab doesn't
have any jaws or teeth either so it moves its claws and the short, heavy
spines at the base of its legs to crush up the food into small pieces.
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