Expert: Walter Hintz - 7/17/2005

Question
Category: Oceanography has no members, maybe you can help me.

I often keep horseshoe crab shells. The ones that still have the complete shell, including the legs and gills are really cool. Trying to find them after the guts have washed out, but before the under shell (legs, gills, etc) has broken off is very difficult. I just discovered that going out at very low tide I can find freshly dead ones. They stick of rotting flesh. I brought some home and tried two different things. 1- soaking in water to help breakdown the guts, but after 10 days in the garage the stink kept getting worse. 2-letting then dry out, but since the guts were still there this also resulted in a mess. What can I soak them in to disintegrate the flesh and kill the stink?

Thanks,
Paul

Answer
 Hi Paul:
I have done a lot of study and work with oceanography.  I have never tried to process horseshoe crabs but I would try cooking them in boiling water. (Not too long or the shell may come apart) This will  kill bacteria that  cause rotting.  Then you can dry them in the sun.