Report Spawning Horseshoe Crabs with FWC App

Spring is peak mating season for horseshoe crabs and FWC biologists encourage sighting reports with the FWC Reporter app. 

These sighting reports provide important information about population distribution to the FWC. Although horseshoe crabs have existed for about 450 million years, little is known about Florida populations. Public sighting information helps FWC researchers target spawning beaches for the Florida Horseshoe Crab Watch Program, a citizen science initiative to collect scientifically accurate data throughout the state.

If you see a horseshoe crab on its back, you can help it flip back over by gently picking it up (holding both sides of the shell), turning it over, and releasing it back into the water. Simple actions like this help conserve this species and the many other species that depend on it.

New on MyFWC.com/Research

• Annual Rescue Summaries (manatees)
• Red Tide-Related Hotlines and Information Sources
• Red Tide Current Status
• 2019 Manatee Mortalities
• Red Tide Manatee Mortalities 
• Leatherback Nesting in Florida
• Green Turtle Nesting in Florida
• Loggerhead Nesting in Florida
• Sea Turtle Monitoring (SNBS and INBS Programs)
• 2018 Statewide Nesting Totals
• Cooperative Land Cover
• Florida Land Cover Classification System
• Stone Crab Catch Data
• Status and Trends

Social Media Corner

New on YouTube:

FWC scientists have studied a special spawning aggregation site near the Dry Tortugas for over a decade. Working with partners, our scientists have documented the recovery of a spawning aggregation and suspect that this location could be special to other species as well.

Flickr Favorite:

FWC's Southeast Marine Mammal Rescue Team rescued this extremely cold-stressed manatee at Manatee Lagoon. He was transported to Miami Seaquarium for rehabilitation.

 From Facebook:

Last fall, during FWC aerial response surveys, only one large aggregation of red drum was spotted off Egmont Key, down from an average of 6-7 aggregations in previous years.