Scientists raise alarm over Horseshoe crabs leaving the breeding ground along Odisha coast

Horseshoe crab, medicinally priceless and one of the oldest creatures on earth, should be placed in ‘Species Recovery Plan’, demand scientists

Horseshoe crabs, medicinally priceless and one of oldest living creatures on the earth, appear to be disappearing from their familiar spawning grounds along Chandipur and Balaramgadi coast in Odisha’s Balasore district.

Scientists have urged Odisha government to immediately come up with a robust protection mechanism before the living fossil becomes extinct due to destructive fishing practices.

Professor B.C. Choudhury, Member of Odisha State Wildlife Advisory Board, and Anil Chatterjee, a retired scientist of National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa appealed that the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change must place the Horseshoe crabs in the list of marine species for which a Species Recovery Plan has to be developed.

Dr. Chatterjee, who had first discovered Horseshoe crabs along Balasore coast and brought the species to State government’s notice in 1987, said India has two species of Horseshoe crabs and major concentration of the animal is found in Odisha.

“When we used to come to Odisha in 1988-89, the population of Horseshoe crab was very high. In 200 square metre area, we were getting 30 to 40 specimens. Last month, I had been to Balasore, I found there were hardly any of such animals,” he said.

“There are two to three major issues causing threat to Horseshoe crabs. Because of unregulated fishing activities, their spawning activities are affected. Like Olive Ridley Sea turtles, these crabs are basically deep sea animals. They come to coasts of Balasore in Odisha and Digha and Sundarban in West Bengal for breeding purposes. They select a suitable site for laying their eggs. Unfortunately, those eggs are also damaged by local people,” lamented the scientist.

He elaborated, “day by day, the population of the blue blood crabs are decreasing. After 10 years, there will not be any Horseshoe crab in India. It is such an important animal that all COVID-19 vaccines were tested against blood of Horseshoe crabs to ascertain if the vaccine was free from any contamination.”