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Horseshoe Crabs Are Breeding All Over NJ Beaches (Video)

It's that time of year when millions of horseshoe crabs breed along the Delaware Bay, authorities said.

Horseshoe crabs are laying thousands of eggs all over New Jersey beaches.

Horseshoe crabs are laying thousands of eggs all over New Jersey beaches.

Photo Credit: NJ State Parks
Horseshoe crab eggs

Horseshoe crab eggs

Photo Credit: NJ State Park Service

It’s the biggest concentration in the world, according to Matt Pelligrine, a naturalist at Cape May Point State Park.

Each female crab lays thousands of tiny green eggs in the sand, and following the crabs are vast flocks of small shorebirds and seagulls feasting on the eggs, Pellegrine said.

It happens every May and lasts into June, sometimes early July. 

Huge female crabs drag one or more males ashore to “nest.” The eggs incubate in the sand and hatch the next full moon — one month later — if they don’t get eaten by birds.

Birds fly four days nonstop to the Delaware Bay to feast on horseshoe crab eggs, Pelligrine said.

Then they fly nonstop to the Bay of Fundy in Canada, feast again and spread out across the Arctic to nest.

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