Living fossils: The Atlantic horseshoe crabs

Two Atlantic horseshoe crabs in the Florida Keys - Photo: Still Gravity.
A couple of Atlantic horseshoe crabs in the Florida Keys. 

These creatures are old. Their forerunners have been around for 400 million years. 

The weirdos have ten eyes, blue blood, and at the end, they are not even crabs. They are arthropods! Meaning that they are cousins of spiders and scorpions. 

We crossed path with these two kayaking in the shallow waters of Key Largo. 

Are they matting? Looks like this is the case because usually they are loners. But happens that the smaller males sometimes go on a ride on the female's back until she lays her eggs - in the picture the rider is smaller. 

The scientific name of these "crabs" is Limulus polyphemus. I don't see the reason for the "Polyphemus" because the mythical Cyclops only had one eye according to the old tales. LOL. 

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