They lived very well there because the EMC is situated on a beautiful estuary surrounded by miles of marshes dotted with lush, green hammocks . The otters with their dark, sleek, long bodies, short legs and stout tapering tails would swim gracefully through the brackish, shallow water of the estuary dodging the oyster bars as they searched for food. There was always plenty of food for them because the estuary is like a giant nursery where many animals spend at least part of their lives.
Fiddler crabs are very good at escaping down the burrows which they dig in the muddy marsh .
The slow, lumbering Horseshoe Crabs were much easier to catch than the Blue Crabs, but they didn't make a very good meal for the otters because most of the Horseshoe Crab's body is covered by a hard outer skeleton that looks like a helmet. It was funny to watch them as they crawled along the muddy bottom of the estuary using their ten legs to search for food such as mussels, small crabs and shrimp. Sometimes the smaller male Horseshoe Crab would latch on to the larger female with his special clasping claws and go along for what appeared to be a piggy-back ride. This behavior occurs during the spring and fall high tides when female horseshoe crabs crawl into the marsh to lay their eggs in the sand. The eggs must be fertilized by the male in order to hatch.