Superheroes! Cape Cod Horseshoe Crabs!

International Horseshoe Crab Day, a day to recognize and pay tribute to an extraordinary animal, is celebrated on June 20.  Horseshoe Crabs of Cape Cod is an illustrated introduction to this remarkable animal whose time on our planet precedes that of the dinosaur by more than 200 million years.  The talk will highlight some of the unusual features of this animal, including its amazing vision and the factor in the blood that has become so valuable to our world of human medicine.  It will close with commentary regarding the need for conservation measures; the horseshoe crab now needs our stewardship.  Only we can make it possible for this ancient animal to keep going.

Brenda Boleyn met her first horseshoe crabs as a youngster on the sandbars of the Pamet River in Truro.  Then at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole during student days, and later the bars of Monomoy and in Pleasant Bay.  After receiving her master’s degree in marine biology from the University of Rhode Island, Brenda joined the faculty of the Science Department at Cape Cod Community College, such a good fit that she stayed for 25 years.  During that time, she served on many boards and committees, including the Board of Trustees, Cape Cod Museum of Natural History.  After retirement, she co-founded the Barnstable County Lyme Disease Task Force, also the Horseshoe Crab Conservation Association in which she remains active.