Once a Spawn a Time: Horseshoe Crabs Mob the Beach | Deep Look

Horseshoe crabs may look scary, but when it’s springtime in Delaware Bay, millions of these arthropods show they’re lovers, not fighters. They lay masses of blue-green eggs up on the shore. At just the right time, they pop and release the larvae within the sea. WATCH our crab collab episode with OVERVIEW on@PBS Terra! DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. --- Each spring during May and June, Atlantic horseshoe crabs gather by the millions along the East Coast of North America with only one thing on their mind — a springtime spawning spree! From Maine to the Gulf of Mexico they seek out calm bays and estuaries, waiting for the highest tides to emerge from the waves. They dig down into the wet sand and deposit huge numbers of pea-sized eggs. David R. Smith, a biological statistician who