Why Horseshoe Crabs are Important to Seabrook Island Shorebirds

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Speaker: Dr. Daniel Sasson
Assistant Marine Scientist
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR)

Date: Thursday February 27, 2025, 7:00 pm
Location: Lake House Live Oak Hall
Admission: Free to SIB Members, $15 to Join SIB, $10 Guest Fee, or $5 for SIPC Members

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https://seabrookislandbirders.org/join-sib/ )

  • 7:00 pm Registration & Refreshments
  • 7:30 pm Program
  • 8:45 pm Program ends
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Program Description

Dr Daniel Sasson from South Carolina Department of Natural Resources will talk about the ecology of horseshoe crabs and the many ways that horseshoe crabs impact coastal environments.  He will also share some recent work SCDNR is conducting to better understand the link between horseshoe crabs and shorebirds in our state and the use of salt marshes by spawning horseshoe crabs.

Horseshoe crabs are a common sight along the coast of South Carolina in the spring. Each female can lay tens of thousands of eggs in the sediment when they come ashore to spawn, which can be a valuable source of nutrition for a wide suite of animals, including many shorebirds.

Speaker Bio:


Dr. Daniel Sasson is an Assistant Marine Scientist at the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), where he leads their research on horseshoe crabs. He attended the University of Florida for graduate school, where he worked to understand variation in male mating success in horseshoe crabs. He has since conducted research on multiple animal groups, including insects, arachnids, and ctenophores, with a general focus on reproductive evolution and ecology. He is an author on over 20 publications and has won awards for his presentations at scientific conferences. Since joining SCDNR in 2020, he has received multiple Federal grants, including those aimed at exploring the use of salt marshes by spawning horseshoe crabs and how the timing of horseshoe crab spawning aligns with the presence of migratory shorebirds in South Carolina.

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Questions? Email us at: SIB Shorebird Stewards sibstewards@gmail.com