Horseshoe crabs have ten eyes, five pairs of walking legs, a heart half the length of their bodies, and blood that may one day save your life. They have been on this planet for 445 million years—since long before the dinosaurs arrived. They have been used as fertilizer and as bait, their eggs are a critical food for migratory birds, and their blood is a major component in tests for medical contamination.

In his new book Horseshoe Crab: Biography of a Survivor, acclaimed science writer Anthony D. Fredericks travels from the Delaware Bay to the Florida Panhandle on a quest through the natural history and science behind one of nature’s oldest and oddest survivors. He explores horseshoe crabs’ unique biology and sex life, explains their importance to medical science and to migratory shorebirds, and introduces readers to the people who are working to study and protect them.

Horseshoe Crab includes a foreword by Glenn Gauvry, founder of the horseshoe crab preservation organization ERDG, who says, “Through humor and a casual, inviting, layman style of writing, [Fredericks] has taken the tedium out of scientific information without removing the science. I believe that as you read this book, you will become drawn into an incredible journey of survival spanning hundreds of millions of years, and along the way you will meet extraordinary individuals whose knowledge and commitment to the understanding and conservation of this often misunderstood creature is truly inspiring, leaving you with a profound depth of knowledge of a most remarkable survivor. I have no doubt that you will also be left with much to think about, for it will be very difficult to ever look at a horseshoe crab again in quite the same way.”

“In this entertaining tribute to 445-million years of horseshoe crabs, Fredericks challenges readers near and far from coastal beaches to embrace the conservation of these important creatures.” —Booklist