Horseshoe Crab Surveying:
Location: East Beach, Fort De Soto, St. Petersburg, Florida
Run by Professor Eron Higgins, Visiting Assistant Professor of Marine Science
An animal cognition project focused on horseshoe crabs. The project uses ethogram coding and plotting lab data to determine if the crabs are learning patterns while navigating a maze they are placed in. The project aimed to provide experimental data that horseshoe crabs are capable of cognition and the results will be used to lobby for ethical and more humane treatment of horseshoe crabs in research and clinical settings.
Responsible for data collection and project maintenance. Fed crabs, ran maze trials, recorded maze trials, recorded for ethograms, recorded for maze data, entered data from trials to an online server and named subject crabs.
Data from the project is reported to the Limulus Project, which is responsible for the collection of crabs, and the Frick Animal Behavior Lab, which is responsible for publishing ethograms Working in conjunction with FAB Lab (Directed by Dr. Erin Frick) and the Limulus Project (Directed by Prof Eron Higgins) at Eckerd College.