We were trying to catch some pompano last Sunday, fishing with live shrimp. My neighbor Emily got the first bite of the day, and hauled in a fish I had never seen before. As you can see in the picture above, it looks a little bit like a shark and a little bit like a stingray. It's a guitarfish, which is a type of ray. It put up a good fight. We snapped a few pictures then tossed him back in the surf.
I was out in the surf trying to catch some bait with my cast net, when I noticed something much heavier than finger mullet in the net. I gently dragged the net on shore and discovered a large horseshoe crab. It's not too unusuall to see horseshoe crab shells that have washed up on the beach, but this is the first time I've seen a live one since I was out scalloping as a kid. I never realize how spinny the shell of these crabs are, until I tried to get this one out of the cast net.
This horeshoe crab seemed perfectly healthy and after a few pictures from beachgoers and some close inspections from curious children, I released him back into the surf, and he slowly disappeared.