Native Americans

Indians who inhabited our shores many years ago were the first to recognize the importance of the horseshoe crab. They ate the meat found in the opisthosoma, which contains the muscles that move the horseshoe crab's tail and possibly some organs in the prosoma, the front, semicircular part of the horseshoe crab.

They also used the crab's shell to bail water from their canoes and its tail for a spear tip. Indians also discovered that the horseshoe crab is an excellent fertilizer (it is rich in nitrogen, which is gradually released into the soil). Indians taught the early settlers how to fertilize their crops with fish and horseshoe crabs. This knowledge became the base of a strong fertilizer industry in Delaware and New Jersey that lasted into the 1950s.