A Connecticut-based animal advocacy organization has petitioned the federal government to classify an animal that lives in a Long Island Sound as an endangered species. “The goal is to create an effective and uniform method to protect these (the Atlantic horseshoe crab) species from exploitation and to protect them from extinction,” said Jennifer Best, the director of Friends of Animals .
Horseshoe crabs in spawning season at Reeds Beach, N.J., on June 13, 2023. AP Photo/Matt RourkeIf you have ever gotten a vaccine or received an intravenous drug and did not come down with a potentially life-threatening fever, you can thank a horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus). How can animals that are often called living fossils, because they have barely changed over millions of years, be so important in modern medicine? Horseshoe crab blood is used to produce a substance called limulus amebocy
By 2025, some 250 million tons (226.7 million metric tons) of plastic will have found its way into the oceans, according to the PADI AWARE Foundation, a conservation group sponsoring a global project called Dive Against Debris. Dive by dive, small groups like Zelek's have been trying to undo some of the damage.