Horseshoe Crab courtesy The Maritime Aquarium.

The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk, Connecticut, is seeking volunteers to assist with tagging horseshoe crabs as part of an annual census conducted during the crabs’ spring spawning run at Norwalk’s Calf Pasture Beach. The census is being led by Dr. Jennifer Mattei of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, who hopes to establish a base line for the local population of crabs that will help biologists monitor any fluctuations in the future.

To participate, new volunteers should attend one of 2 training sessions at the Aquarium.

The sessions will be held at:

• 7:00 p.m. on either Thursday, May 3 or Sunday, May 6. Volunteers will learn about the natural history of horseshoe crabs, what has been learned so far from the census work, and how to safely tag the crabs. Volunteers should be in 10th grade or older. Younger children can assist if working with a parent, teacher or guardian.

Tagging sessions at Calf Pasture Beach will be held in tide-dependent evening and morning sessions on the following dates:

• Sunday, May 20 at 11:00 p.m.
• Monday, May 21 at 5:30 a.m.
• Monday, June 4 at 11:15 p.m.
• Tuesday, June 5 at 5:00 a.m.
• Tuesday, June 19 at 11:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, June 20 at 5:00 a.m.
• Monday, July 2 at 10:15 p.m.
• Tuesday, July 3 at 5 a.m.

For more information:

Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk

Share this Article On

Follow BoatingLocal:

Like BoatingLocal on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Receive our Daily RSS Feed.