Student: Jenny Gazerro, Katie Hjort and Matthew Laudicina
Mentor: Professor Mark Beekey
Major: Biology

Connecticut recently established three protected areas along the CT coastline of Long Island Sound where the harvesting of horseshoe crabs, Limulus polyphemus, is prohibited.  The goal of these “no-harvest” areas is to protect spawning habitat and increase horseshoe crab recruitment.  However, it is unclear whether these sites are optimal locations for Limulus spawning due to lack of data prior to establishment.  Furthermore, it is unclear if maintaining only three protected areas will enhance spawning and recruitment due to potential dispersal patterns of adult horseshoe crabs among adjacent beaches.  We examined four years of tagging data from along the Connecticut coast to determine how much movement occurs as well as if there were general or specific patterns of movement among adjacent beaches and between no harvest areas.  The data indicate that both male and female crabs exhibit little site fidelity.  Males and females often move among beaches within any given spawning season.  Male crabs appear to disperse farther distances than females in a relatively shorter time period.  Females generally tend to remain near the same beach that they were originally tagged.  We conclude that the establishment of only three no harvest areas is unlikely to greatly enhance spawning success and recruitment due to the amount of dispersal observed within and between spawning seasons.  We suggest the state increase the number of no harvest areas to protect more spawning beaches.  Finally, the movement patterns suggest the Long Island Sound horseshoe crab population is panmictic.  Future genetic analysis will help confirm these conclusions.

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