HORSESHOE CRAB
(Limulidea pholyphemus)

By: Raegan Propes

This organism is the horseshoe crab also called by its scientific name, Limulidae Pholyphemus. This organism can be found in shallow areas with a soft bottom. The domain of this organism is Eukaryote, the kingdom is Animala, the phylum is Athropod, the class is Merostmato, the order is Xiphosura, the family is Limulidae, the genus is limulus, and the species in Limulus Polyphemus. Horseshoe crab shells are brown or black and the underneath is most of the time brown as well.(structural)Its shell is shaped like a circle, with its eyes on the top.(structural)It also has a long tail coming out of the bottom of its shell where the horseshoes body is(structural) Horseshoe crabs are bilateral symmetry, which means they can be divided into two parts that are mirror images of each other. Horseshoe crabs are very smart and feeds at night when most animals are asleep. This animal is a heterotroph and is also endothermic. Its prey are worms, small molluscs, and algae. It doesn't have any predators but some humans might eat them. A horseshoe crab has bilateral symmetry, which means that it is fact about this organism is that the boys have different front legs than the girls to actually hold onto the girls during mating season.