How to Catch a Horseshoe Crab in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

With the July summer update to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, there are now tons of new creatures that players can catch by diving underwater. One of these is the Horseshoe Crab, which first appeared in New Leaf and has now made its way over to New Horizons. With that said, here’s how to catch a Horseshoe Crab in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Horseshoe Crab – Months, Location, Bells

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a Horseshoe Crab can be found by diving underwater at bubble spots between 9 PM and 4 AM local time. That being said, the crab can only be found during July-September in the Northern Hemisphere and January-March in the Southern Hemisphere. If you manage to catch a Horseshoe Crab, you can sell it for 2,500 Bells or donate it to Blather’s new underwater section of the museum.

If you’ve been away from the game for a while, the July update added in a new feature that allows players to swim and dive for creatures in the ocean. As you might expect, this brought in a whole load of new creatures that can be caught, with the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Horseshoe Crab being one of them. To get started swimming, you’ll need to purchase a wetsuit. 

Related: How to Keep Flowers From Spreading In Animal Crossing: New Horizons

From there, simply head to the ocean and press A to hop in. Simply swim around and when you see a bubbly spot in the water, this means that you can dive underneath the surface to catch a creature. Simply press Y and your character will disappear and reappear with a random sea creature in-hand. Similar to catching fish, there will be different sized shadows that will help narrow down what kinds of creatures you might catch. For the Horseshoe Crab in particular, you’ll want to look for slow-moving, medium-sized shadows. 

While trying to catch a Horseshoe Crab, you may find yourself with other new items, like a Scallop for example. When you find one, you’ll be greeted by a friendly otter named Pascal who will offer to trade you Mermaid DIY recipes (or Pearls) for the Scallop. There are a total of 18 items in the Mermaid set that players can collect if they want themed decorations to go with the update. 

Check out one of our video guides for the famous title where we take a look at how you can catch sharks: 

If you need a break from trying to catch a Horseshoe Crab, there are tons of new bugs and fish that will appear on your island this July. If you need help finding them, we have tons of individual critter guides on our homepage that you can check out. Further, in the links below you’ll find some of our more recent coverage.

• How to Catch Miyama Stag in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
• How to Get Horned Atlas in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
• How to Catch Saw Stag in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Have you been able to catch the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Horseshoe Crab? If so, send us a picture of it on Twitter or Facebook!