# @centerforbiodiv on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DY7qlp8j7wt
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/66084287-centerforbiodiv-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/e113dfaf79.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-05-29T18:16:09.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Center for Biological Diversity (@CenterForBioDiv) — https://gondola.cc/CenterForBioDiv

## Caption

Have you ever seen a horseshoe crab?

These brown, body-armored arthropods with 10 eyes and a long, spiked tail have been crawling ashore for more than 450 million years. 

If you're a frequent beachgoer on the Atlantic coast, you mave have noticed there have been fewer and fewer of them dotting the shorelines — if you even see them at all anymore. 

That's because horseshoe crab populations have sadly plummeted by more than 70% in recent decades  because of overharvesting, especially from biomedical companies.

These creatures, nearly twice as old as dinosaurs, have survived meteor impacts and ice ages but they’re now facing their biggest threat yet: humans. 

And as horseshoe crabs have declined, so have other species that feed on them, like endangered sea turtles and shorebirds. 

Yet despite their massive population decline, the Trump administration has denied horseshoe crabs protections under the Endangered Species Act. 

So yesterday, we sued the administration over that decision. 

We're not going to let horseshoe crabs continue vanishing from our shores on our watch. 

[Video description: Three clips of horseshoe crabs along shorelines. Text overlay describes how they have survived for around a half-billion years but now they need our help.]

#HorseshoeCrab #WildlifeConservation #OceanConservation #EndangeredSpeciesAct

## Stats

- **Views:** 1,411
- **Likes:** 506
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 16

## Tags

endangeredspeciesact, wildlifeconservation, horseshoecrab, oceanconservation

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