today I went on the boat and did some shellfishing for quahogs (hard shell clams).  While there, I saw a Horseshoe crab swimming by, maybe 12 in. across.  I caught him in the rake and showed him to my son and his friend.  They had never seen one in wild, only at aquariums.  This made me reflect about when I was a kid, we would see them commonly, every time you went to the beach, it seemed.  I know they have set strict guidelines to their harvest.  They are used for bleeding, a very valuable substance for medical research.  In fact, they are to be used and returned, alive, and there is a maximum volume of blood that can be drawn from each.  Anyone near the coast, question, do you still have any in your area, and where is that.  I just wondered if they indeed are facing extinction.  It would be a shame to loose this prehistoric creature!