Virtual Learning Center

Vocabulary Words

  • Compound eye – eye containing numerous lenses.
  • Gills  – respiratory organ which extracts oxygen from water.
  • Rudder – used for steering.
  • Toxin –  a poison or substance which can cause harm to the health of a living thing.
  • Harvest – to gather or collect.
  • Migration – seasonal movement from one region to another.
  • Compound – composed of 2 or more separate elements.
  • Prehistoric – the time before there were written records.
  • Copper – a reddish-brown metal.
  • Antibody – a protective protein produced by the immune system in response to the presence of a foreign substance,
  • Pollution – the presence or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects.

Fun Facts

  • A female Horseshoe Crab can lay as many as 90,000 eggs each season, usually in clusters of 4,000 – 5,000 at at time. However, only about 10 of those individual embryos will ever become adults. Before they get a chance to hatch, fish, sea turtles, and birds feed on the eggs.
  • Horseshoe Crabs are actually not crabs. They are more closely related to spiders.
  • Horseshoe Crabs have been around for 450 million years, predating the dinosaurs by more than 200 million years.
  • The blood of Horseshoe Crabs contains a protein that will clot upon exposure with bacterial endotoxin. In this way, preparations such as insulin or antibiotics can be tested for contamination before being used in people.
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