Port Mahon used to be a very active fishing port, but now it’s barely hanging on to it’s road. The road is frequently flooded and covered with sand. From a natural history stand point, the area is one of the breeding grounds in the Delaware Bay for Horseshoe Crabs. They come here to deposit their eggs in a frenzy with a female surrounded and crawled over by the much smaller males. The eggs are the primary food source for a lot of migratory shore birds that stop over in the bay to gorge and continue their journey from near the tip of South America to way up in Canada. Many of the crabs get left behind when the tide goes out and die on the beach. In the summer it creates quite the smell.
I went there the other day to do these images with my Holga camera. I like the timeless look. Horseshoe crabs have been around for much longer than people. I suspect that after people are gone, the crabs will continue on, coming to beaches on the Delaware Bay, breeding and some unfortunate ones, dying.
Yes, I must go out with the Holga! You are being very good about that and these are indeed fine! They could have been taken in Cedar Key, breakwater & horseshoe crabs, a common sight here too.
I can smell it from here
Thanks guys!
reelquick, the only time the horseshoe crab comes to the beach is to spawn, which occurs between the months of may and june, at high tides and full moons. you should check it out some time, it’s quite a phenomenon. dont look for them at the oceanfront beach. look in the backbays or any of the delaware bay beaches. it’s gotta be a sandy beach. i’ve seen them spawning way up tiny salt creeks just because there was sand in it. horseshoe crabs are quite a remarkable creature. it’s a shame they’re not around like they used to be.