Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), Merritt Island, Florida

Underneath the alien-looking, horseshoe-shaped carapace lives not a crab at all but a twelve-legged marine creature related to spiders. They are however rather larger than spiders and can reach 60cm in length. They have nine eyes. There are three further species in Asia. Horseshoe crabs are living fossils, having remained virtually unchanged for 445 million years.

100402 058

Done