In this quick tutorial you'll learn how to draw a Horseshoe Crab in 5 easy steps - great for kids and novice artists.
The images above represent how your finished drawing is going to look and the steps involved.
Below are the individual steps - you can click on each one for a High Resolution printable PDF version.
At the bottom you can read some interesting facts about the Horseshoe Crab.
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How to Draw a Horseshoe Crab - Step-by-Step Tutorial
Step 1: Lets draw a Horseshoe Crab! This is a strange creature that is very old and lives in the Sea. They are not actually Crabs, but have that name because their shell is shaped like a horse shoe. Start by drawing the front of the shell by making a horse shoe shape that closes at one end. Add a few lines inside at an angle for details.
Step 2: Now, add a half circle in the end of the front of the shell for the abdomen.
Step 3: Next, draw a series of spines along the top of the Horershoe Crab.
Step 4: For the front spines, draw another series of spines coming up from the shell on the right side.
Step 5: Now, add the long tail by bringing a tube shape out of the back and ending it with a point. Color the Horseshoe crab a dark orange.
Interesting Facts about the Horseshoe Crab
Horseshoe crabs are a type of marine arthropods that can be found in shallow oceans with soft sand or muddy bottoms in areas around the coast of North America as well at other coastlines around the Atlantic, Indian, and pacific oceans.
Did you know?
- The horseshoe crab isn’t actually a crab. It gets its name simply because it looks like a crab and its shell is in the shape of a horseshoe. These creatures are actually related to spiders and scorpions
- These “crabs” are called living fossils because they have been around for somewhere between 540 to 248 million years
- These creatures are very important to science and medicine because they have blue blood that is often used to test bacterial contamination in fluids. Don’t worry though, they aren’t killed for their blood, the blood is taken and then they are safely released back into the wild
- Female horseshoe crabs lay between 60,00 and 120,000 eggs in batches of a couple of thousands at one time
- Eggs only take around 2 weeks to hatch!
Though these arthropods have lived for hundreds of millions of years, their population is starting to decrease because of being used as fertilizer and fishing bait. To prevent the further decline of the horseshoe crab, some states in the United States have made it illegal to fish or harm these creatures.
How to Draw a Horseshoe Crab – Step-By-Step Tutorial