and one Horseshoe Crab.
We have been in Corolla on the Outerbanks of North Carolina for a few days, spending time with Gregg's sister. One of the things we have in common is that we both love to look at seashells, and she found many to show me on her early morning walks along the beach. I was absolutely delighted with them. Those I will share another time.
This exhibit was found at a visitor center on one of our rides around the area.
I have always found the Horseshoe Crab fascinating, and prehistoric looking. Unfortunately I have never seen a live one, just the one in this exhibit and one or two on the beach over the years.
The other thing I found fascinating and don't remember ever seeing them before, or maybe I have but thought it was seaweed or something, is the Whelk egg case. In each section of those 'discs' there can be up to 99 tiny whelks. This is also commonly known as a Mermaid Necklace. You can read more at this link.
If you enlarge each photo you can see them in better detail.
I found an interesting video on YouTube which I embedded below. If you can't see the video you can find it at this link.
Added note: with thanks for Martha Ellen's comment, that the Horseshoe Crab is not actually a crab. Forever curious I found more information at the link here where it says that these fascinating creatures are closer related to spiders and scorpions than to the crab. Thank you Martha Ellen!
And thank you for looking. Have a great week!
