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Taiwan Quick Take: Horseshoe crabs released

Horseshoe crabs released
Some 70,000 baby Asian horseshoe crabs bred in captivity were released into waters off Kinmen yesterday as part of efforts to conserve the "living fossil" species. With a distinctive domed carapace shaped like a horseshoe and a stiff pointed tail, the Asian horseshoe crab tachypleus tridentatus, whose appearance on the earth can be dated back to 400 million years ago, is known as one of the few "living fossil" species in the country, with the seas around Kinmen being the major natural habitat for the animal. Kinmen County Commissioner Lee Chu-feng (李炷烽) led some 200 Kinmen residents and students in a release activity held on the shore of the Chienkung islet and the mouth of the Wuchiang creek under the guidance of officials from the Kinmen Aquaculture Research Institute, which bred the crabs.

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