Skip to main content
An Atlantic horseshoe crab lies on the beach in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, not far from Delaware Bay. PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
sprep-pa

Conservationists worry the animals, which are vital food sources for many species along the U.S. East Coast, will decline in number...Every year, pharmaceutical companies round up half a million Atlantic horseshoe crabs, bleed them, and return them to the ocean— after which many will die. This practice, combined with overharvesting of the crabs for fishing bait, has caused a decline in the species in the region in the past few decades.

Original Article