I went to visit my sis the park ranger in the Everglades over a spring break one year and was lucky enough to be allowed to do some “hurricane assessment” with her and 3 others while I was there.  It involved us going on a long boat ride down the coast, then jumping into the ocean and wading to a stunningly beautiful beach comprised entirely of shells and horseshoe crab exoskeletons:

Horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus

Horseshoe crabs are considered “living fossils” because they have changed very, very little in the last 250 million years.  Aren’t they magnificent?!

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