Horseshoe Crab 馬蹄蟹

發現馬蹄蟹？ 即去馬蹄蟹發現報告分享俾我哋知並贏得特別紀念品啦！（活動期將於8月31日截止。紀念品數量有限，送完即止。）

香港的馬蹄蟹

馬蹄蟹，又名鱟（讀音：后），由於牠在地球上出現的時間比恐龍還要早，故有「活化石」之稱。 現存的馬蹄蟹共有四個品種，其中兩種可在香港找到，分別是中國鱟 (Tachypleus tridentatus) 和圓尾鱟 (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) (Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2013) 。其餘兩個品種是美洲鱟 (Limulus polyphemus) 和 南方鱟 (Tachypleus gigas) 分別能在美洲大西洋沿岸和其他亞洲地區如新加坡及泰國等地找到 (Sekiguchi and Shuster, 2009; Shih et al,2009; Zaldivar-Rae et al, 2009). 。

在2019年，中國鱟在世界自然保護聯盟瀕危物種紅色名錄中被列為瀕危；圓尾鱟則因為沒有足夠的數據，而未能被確定在名錄中。通過我們的團隊對中國鱟和圓尾鱟兩種品種的基因組測序，我們發現這些動物是在祖先時代經歷了全基因組倍增極少數的無脊椎動物之一（Kenny et al, 2016）。

參考資料

Beekey, M. A., & Mattei, J. H. (2015). The Mismanagement of Limulus polyphemus in Long Island Sound, U.S.A.: What Are the Characteristics of a Population in Decline? Changing Global Perspectives on Horseshoe Crab Biology, Conservation and Management, 433–461. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-19542-1_25

Faurby, S., King, T. L., Obst, M., Hallerman, E. M., Pertoldi, C., & Funch, P. (2010). Population dynamics of American horseshoe crabs-historic climatic events and recent anthropogenic pressures. Molecular Ecology, 19(15), 3088–3100. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2010.04732.x

Kenny, N. J., Chan, K. W., Nong, W., Qu, Z., Maeso, I., Yip, H. Y., … & Hui, J. H. (2016). Ancestral whole-genome duplication in the marine chelicerate horseshoe crabs. Heredity, 116(2), 190.

Morton, B., & Lee, C. N. (2010). Spatial and temporal distributions of juvenile horseshoe crabs (Arthropoda: Chelicerata) approaching extirpation along the northwestern shoreline of the New Territories of Hong Kong SAR, China. Journal of Natural History, 45(3-4), 227–251. doi: 10.1080/00222933.2010.522263

Sekiguchi, K., & Shuster, C. N. (2009). Limits on the Global Distribution of Horseshoe Crabs (Limulacea): Lessons Learned from Two Lifetimes of Observations: Asia and America. Biology and Conservation of Horseshoe Crabs, 5–24. doi: 10.1007/978-0-387-89959-6_1

Shin P.K., Li H., Cheung S.G. (2009) Horseshoe Crabs in Hong Kong: Current Population Status and Human Exploitation. In: Tanacredi J., Botton M., Smith D. (eds) Biology and Conservation of Horseshoe Crabs. Springer, Boston, MA

Widener, J. W., & Barlow, R. B. (1999). Decline of a Horseshoe Crab Population on Cape Cod. The Biological Bulletin, 197(2), 300–302. doi: 10.2307/1542664

Zaldívar-Rae, J., Sapién-Silva, R. E., Rosales-Raya, M., & Brockmann, H. J. (2009). American Horseshoe Crabs, Limulus polyphemus, in Mexico: Open Possibilities. Biology and Conservation of Horseshoe Crabs, 97–113. doi: 10.1007/978-0-387-89959-6_6