Shake Hands with the Ultimate Marine Survivor

Meet and shake hands with uShaka Marine World's Sleepy, Dopey, Happy, Grumpy and Sneezy – threatened blue blooded horseshoe crabs who recently arrived in Durban from Indonesia to make uShaka Sea World their new home.

Unlike humans where red haemoglobin carries oxygen through the veins, the blood of horseshoe crabs contains haemocyanin which has traces of copper and gives their blood a blue tinge - making them uShaka's royal family. Learn more about these exotic marine creatures who you will find in the Treasure Chest room inside the Aquarium and under the watch full eye of scientist, Paul Lotter you will get to really connect with them through touch. Although our five horseshoe crabs look like crustaceans, they are actually more closely related to spiders and scorpions and, under their hard shells or carapaces, they actually do look like spiders. They are regarded as living fossils as scientists have found evidence of them in the Northern Hemisphere dating back 450 million years.

As you will discover, our horseshoe crabs each have four pairs of legs for walking, movement and feeding. They use their long, straight, rigid tails to flip themselves over if they are turned upside down. Behind their legs, they have book gills for breathing and swimming. However, they are much happier on the ocean floor searching for worms and molluscs which makes up their main diet. Crustaceans and even small fish are also on the menu.

They live primarily in shallow ocean waters but occasionally make it to shore to mate. They are threatened in some parts of the world because they have been over harvested for use in fertilizer and as bait.

Sleepy, Dopey, Happy, Grumpy and Sneezy will be watching you through two large compound eyes and a number of smaller simple ones.

For more information contact Ann Kunz at uShaka Marine World on 031-328 8222.