God and Nature Summer 2023
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By Michaela Stenerson
The Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), also known as the American horseshoe crab, is a funky-looking species that despite its name is actually more closely related to scorpions and spiders than crabs. They are sometimes called living fossils because of how little their biology has changed since before the time of the dinosaurs.
Horseshoe crabs are found all the way up the east coast of the United States and across specific coastlines in Asia. Globally, their populations are decreasing, and since 2016 the Atlantic horseshoe crab has been listed as a Vulnerable species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) .
The Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), also known as the American horseshoe crab, is a funky-looking species that despite its name is actually more closely related to scorpions and spiders than crabs. They are sometimes called living fossils because of how little their biology has changed since before the time of the dinosaurs.
Horseshoe crabs are found all the way up the east coast of the United States and across specific coastlines in Asia. Globally, their populations are decreasing, and since 2016 the Atlantic horseshoe crab has been listed as a Vulnerable species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) .
I cannot help seeing a correlation to how we often respond to Jesus. |
These animals are collected for three main reasons by individuals or fisheries: as fishing bait, for research, or for biomedical uses. Horseshoe crabs are not only strange on the outside, but internally they contain a unique and valuable substance. Their blood, which is blue, is used in biomedical processes to test drugs and vaccines.
There are limits enforced on when and how many horseshoe crabs people can take from natural areas, but in central Florida much is still unknown about their population status and dynamics. I am a part of a conservation organization called A Rocha USA. We have projects around the country, including one located in Titusville, Florida, right near the Indian River Lagoon, which happens to be a hotspot of biodiversity and the most important horseshoe crab spawning area in the state.
In 2015, the Florida Horseshoe Crab Watch (2) began. Launched by the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) and the University of Florida, the program began training citizen scientists to report sightings of horseshoe crabs during spawning season and tag them to begin understanding their movement patterns. After eight years, this initiative has expanded across the state.
The A Rocha USA team in Florida gets a front-row seat to an interesting pattern that seems to be emerging amongst the population of crabs in the lagoon. Off coasts, horseshoe crabs tend to spawn based on patterns of high tide and low tide. They come ashore at high tide to lay their eggs in the sand, and they return to the water at low tide. However, since the lagoon does not experience drastic high/low tides throughout the day, the crabs seem to have adapted to a new rhythm of spawning that instead involves wind speed and direction. They spawn during episodes of high wind, which mimics a high tide-like event, providing them what they need to lay their eggs and return to the water. The A Rocha USA team tagged roughly 30 crabs this spawning season and witnessed multiple events of more than 1,000 crabs ashore at once during high winds.
A Rocha is a faith-based organization (1), and while monitoring these animals, our team had ample time to reflect on their behaviors and listen to what we may be able to learn from this creature who is praising God in its own way. One lesson that I gleaned from observing them involves a common occurrence that happens during a spawning event.
When a horseshoe crab gets hit by a wave wrong, it can get flipped on its back, and it often finds itself stranded ashore unless a person flips it back over. The crabs do have a tail (telson) which helps turn them around, but it is not completely reliable in these circumstances. When they are flipped over, they are vulnerable to birds and other predators that can easily munch on their soft undersides.
As an act of care for these animals, our team occasionally goes to a sandy beach in the lagoon where a spawning event occurred earlier that day so that we can try to right the ones that have been flipped during the windy event. But as we start to move them, they fold over onto themselves, presumably to protect their soft undersides. In doing so, however, they reject our help. We try to set them right side up, back onto the sand, back into the water from whence they came, but with their hunched-up bodies, they only roll… back onto their backs, back to a place where they are not meant to stay.
We hold the crab on the shore, right by the water, and wait, gripping its carapace gently as we encourage an unfolding to occur. We attempt to unfurl the animal slowly, and, often, when they feel the sand underneath their feet once more, their legs begin to move, and their stranding on the beach finds its end. Other times, they are not so wise. They never quite grasp the good that we are trying to do for them, our attempts to encourage them to submit to this letting go fail, and they remain on land, when they were meant for the sea.
In reflecting on these situations, I cannot help seeing a correlation to how we often respond to Jesus.
There are limits enforced on when and how many horseshoe crabs people can take from natural areas, but in central Florida much is still unknown about their population status and dynamics. I am a part of a conservation organization called A Rocha USA. We have projects around the country, including one located in Titusville, Florida, right near the Indian River Lagoon, which happens to be a hotspot of biodiversity and the most important horseshoe crab spawning area in the state.
In 2015, the Florida Horseshoe Crab Watch (2) began. Launched by the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) and the University of Florida, the program began training citizen scientists to report sightings of horseshoe crabs during spawning season and tag them to begin understanding their movement patterns. After eight years, this initiative has expanded across the state.
The A Rocha USA team in Florida gets a front-row seat to an interesting pattern that seems to be emerging amongst the population of crabs in the lagoon. Off coasts, horseshoe crabs tend to spawn based on patterns of high tide and low tide. They come ashore at high tide to lay their eggs in the sand, and they return to the water at low tide. However, since the lagoon does not experience drastic high/low tides throughout the day, the crabs seem to have adapted to a new rhythm of spawning that instead involves wind speed and direction. They spawn during episodes of high wind, which mimics a high tide-like event, providing them what they need to lay their eggs and return to the water. The A Rocha USA team tagged roughly 30 crabs this spawning season and witnessed multiple events of more than 1,000 crabs ashore at once during high winds.
A Rocha is a faith-based organization (1), and while monitoring these animals, our team had ample time to reflect on their behaviors and listen to what we may be able to learn from this creature who is praising God in its own way. One lesson that I gleaned from observing them involves a common occurrence that happens during a spawning event.
When a horseshoe crab gets hit by a wave wrong, it can get flipped on its back, and it often finds itself stranded ashore unless a person flips it back over. The crabs do have a tail (telson) which helps turn them around, but it is not completely reliable in these circumstances. When they are flipped over, they are vulnerable to birds and other predators that can easily munch on their soft undersides.
As an act of care for these animals, our team occasionally goes to a sandy beach in the lagoon where a spawning event occurred earlier that day so that we can try to right the ones that have been flipped during the windy event. But as we start to move them, they fold over onto themselves, presumably to protect their soft undersides. In doing so, however, they reject our help. We try to set them right side up, back onto the sand, back into the water from whence they came, but with their hunched-up bodies, they only roll… back onto their backs, back to a place where they are not meant to stay.
We hold the crab on the shore, right by the water, and wait, gripping its carapace gently as we encourage an unfolding to occur. We attempt to unfurl the animal slowly, and, often, when they feel the sand underneath their feet once more, their legs begin to move, and their stranding on the beach finds its end. Other times, they are not so wise. They never quite grasp the good that we are trying to do for them, our attempts to encourage them to submit to this letting go fail, and they remain on land, when they were meant for the sea.
In reflecting on these situations, I cannot help seeing a correlation to how we often respond to Jesus.
When we are in a vulnerable state and feel exposed and worrisome, the Creator attempts to flip our lives back around, to give us a nudge in the right direction. But when we feel His touch, we often fear for our safety. We fold in on ourselves. We fail to release our tense grip on self-preservation in fear that our vulnerabilities will be taken advantage of, preyed upon, and will leave us empty. Shells of who we once were. If only we knew that releasing this tight grip would actually open us back up to life.
Horseshoe crabs embody some virtuous characteristics as well. They are patient and attentive to their environment to determine when to spawn. Although some get stranded ashore, the nutrients provided by their bodies return to the ecosystems in which they live, and although that danger exists as they clamber ashore to spawn, they trust the signs given by their environment that it is time to reproduce and take the risk.
Horseshoe crabs are unique animals that, like all other creatures, play a vital role in their native ecosystems. They eat and are eaten and were made by the Creator just like everything else to praise Him.
Our team in Florida has crafted various media from our time monitoring horseshoe crabs this season, including a reflective video (3) and a storymap) (4).
References
1. arocha.us
2. Florida Horseshoe Crab Watch
3. WindWatchers Video
4. Storymap
Michaela Stenerson is a graduate of Taylor University's Sustainable Development Bachelor's of Science program. With previous experience in community gardening and permaculture, she is currently working with A Rocha USA in Titusville, Florida, to study the biodiversity of the Indian River Lagoon.
Horseshoe crabs embody some virtuous characteristics as well. They are patient and attentive to their environment to determine when to spawn. Although some get stranded ashore, the nutrients provided by their bodies return to the ecosystems in which they live, and although that danger exists as they clamber ashore to spawn, they trust the signs given by their environment that it is time to reproduce and take the risk.
Horseshoe crabs are unique animals that, like all other creatures, play a vital role in their native ecosystems. They eat and are eaten and were made by the Creator just like everything else to praise Him.
Our team in Florida has crafted various media from our time monitoring horseshoe crabs this season, including a reflective video (3) and a storymap) (4).
References
1. arocha.us
2. Florida Horseshoe Crab Watch
3. WindWatchers Video
4. Storymap
Michaela Stenerson is a graduate of Taylor University's Sustainable Development Bachelor's of Science program. With previous experience in community gardening and permaculture, she is currently working with A Rocha USA in Titusville, Florida, to study the biodiversity of the Indian River Lagoon.