Introducing: Horseshoe Crabs in the Classroom, Take 2


During the 2011/2012 school year, we had a program called Horseshoe Crabs in the Classroom at our elementary school. This program is offered through the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and it's a great idea for a number of reasons - letting kids learn about these incredible pre-dinosaur animals while, maybe, helping add a few more of these amazing animals to the Chesapeake Bay.

Last year, we ended up with no live horseshoe crabs (HSC) and I think this was because of over-zealousness on my part for ridding the aquarium of an unwanted fungus or at least what I thought was fungus. The 4th graders, though, were very enthusiastic and they learned a lot about the critters even though they never saw a live one in their classroom. Sigh.

This year, though, now that the teacher (me) is a bit more experienced, I think we'll have better luck. So here's Take 2...

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

July 4 - Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming




Well, that's a HUGE relief. When we left for the weekend on Friday, it looked like things were starting to happen with the eggs hatching. We left the AC on given the high temperatures outside so I didn't feel too bad about heading out. Then came the huge storm that knocked out power and with outside temperatures soaring to 100+. I have no idea what the water temps were in the tank. When we came back on Monday, the power had been back on so the house was cool and the water temp was around 79. Nothing was happening in the tank. Oh no! There were fewer eggs so I knew a lot had hatched but there were no swimming larvae. Yesterday I saw a few but today - Happy Fourth of July! - lots were swimming around! Life is good in the tank!

Here's what those little swimmers look like (thank you google images for having such great photos of horseshoe crab larvae!).


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