The ancient species has been around for about 450 million years – longer than the dinosaurs – but faces significant threats from habitat loss and biomedical harvesting.
WASHINGTON (CN) – The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration Thursday over its decision to deny endangered species protection to the ancient Atlantic horseshoe crab.
of the conservation group filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to overturn the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Feb. 18 decision that there was no “substantial scientific or commercial information” showing that the horseshoe crab required protection.
“The horseshoe crab is one of the oldest living species on Earth, with fossils dating back as far as 450 million years ago,” the group said. “Horseshoe crabs are often called living fossils and have been around for centuries. Until they met humans.”
Horseshoe crabs have been around for more than 450 million years, making the species older than the dinosaurs themselves, which first appeared around 245 million years ago. Crabs are brown, armored arthropods with 10 eyes and a long, spiked tail.
The horseshoe crab lives in shallow estuaries and offshore habitats along the Atlantic coast from northern Maine to Florida, the Gulf coast from Florida to Louisiana, and the Yucatan Peninsula.
The conservation group is asking a federal judge to order the Fisheries Service to make a new finding to correct violations of the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.
Danny Waltz, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, criticized the Trump administration’s denial. in a statement but expressed hope that the courts would provide the necessary relief.
“Horseshoe crabs have survived meteor impacts and ice ages, but they are facing their biggest threat: us,” Waltz said. “It is deeply troubling that the Trump administration is unwilling to save these living fossils from extinction.”
In 2024, the Center for Biological Diversity and 25 other conservation organizations petitioned the Fisheries Service to enact protection under the Endangered Species Act, citing significant threats to the population from habitat loss and overharvesting.
According to the group, the Fisheries Service mistakenly relied on outside information and split the Mid-Atlantic region to reject listing the New York and Delaware Bay populations as an important part of the species’ range.
Since the 1990s, Delaware Bay’s horseshoe crab population has declined by two-thirds.
Horseshoe crab blood – unique for its bright blue color – is highly sought after by medical and pharmaceutical industries for their value in vaccine testing. It contains immune cells sensitive to toxic bacteria, making them perfect for testing new vaccines for contamination.
According to Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commissionapproximately 15% of crabs die as a result of the bleeding process.
The Center for Biological Diversity states in the lawsuit that horseshoe crab populations have declined more than 70% in recent decades due to such biomedical harvests. Such harvest has doubled domestically in the past seven years, with more than 1 million horseshoe crabs harvested in 2024.
The creatures are also harvested for use as bait by commercial snail and eel fisheries.
“Horseshoe crabs are vital to coastal animals and communities, and they are disappearing from our shores on our watch,” Waltz said. “Fortunately, the Endangered Species Act can save horseshoe crabs, but only if the Trump administration does the right thing and gives them lifesaving protections.”
As the horseshoe crab population has declined, so have species such as endangered sea turtles and the shorebirds that feed on them.
The red knot, a bird that feeds on the eggs of horseshoe crabs during their 19,000-mile migration from South America to the Arctic and back, was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2015. The 2015 listing was based in part on the fact that the horseshoe crab has contributed to the species’ decline in survival.
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