The love fest on the Delaware Bay is more than a match for the Unification Church’s mass wedding ceremonies – no, not people, but horseshoe crabs. Granted, the scent females may give off may not be exactly a Dior, it attracts so many males that many will struggle around one female so she can lay her eggs, as many as 80,000 per crab.
In spite of the results of such lovemaking, many of the eggs in dense masses become food for migrating birds. But the real danger to the horseshoe is not frenzied feeding but over harvesting, destroying the crabs for bait and their blood for medical purposes.
New Jersey limited the taking of horseshoes to 150,000, and Connecticut, realizing the danger in their loss, has shut down their destruction. These incredible creatures have been with us for about 450 million years, predating even the dinosaurs. Maybe God is saying something to us when such a species lasts so long.
Prayer for the Day
Lord, it may seem odd, but when we save one creature of yours,
It seems like we’re saving the whole work of your creation;
Is not this one creature, O God, as important as we in your sight,
For at times we tend to think ourselves precious to you.
Protect us, O God, from our prideful sense of importance,
By enveloping us with the world you have made.
In the name of the One who calls us to save,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The number of horseshoe crabs in Long Island Sound and throughout the Atlantic Coast has been severely depleted in recent years, raising concerns that this ancient species that has been around longer than the dinosaurs could be driven into extinction from overharvesting.
- Ned Lamont, Connecticut governor supporting a total ban
But if the East Coast were to lose all its horseshoe crabs, it would be a major medical disaster. While we protect our valuable food species with stringent regulations, to date we have only started to protect our far more valuable populations of horseshoe crabs.
- William Sargeant, from Crab Wars
Sing to the Lord a new song, God’s praise from the end of the earth!
Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants…
Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare praise to God in the coastlands.
Isaiah 42: 10, 12