Atlantic Horseshoe Crab
( Limulus polyphemus)
Atlantic Horseshoe Crabs are marine arthropods found on the coastlines of the North American Atlantic Ocean. Horseshoe Crabs are considered living fossils remaining largely unchanged over 480 million years. Making the Horseshoe Crab older than the dinosaurs. The Horseshoe Crab is protected by a hard dark gray exoskeleton with a long tail sticking out used righting themselves if they are flipped over by a wave. Despite its appearance as a prehistoric crabs, they are actually more closely related to scorpions and spiders.
Atlantic Horseshoe Crabs are very important to the biomedical industry because of their copper-based blue blood that contains a unique substance called Limulus Amebocyte Lysate. Limulus Amebocyte Lysate clumps up in the presence of small amounts of bacterial toxins and is used to test the sterility of medical equipment. Anyone who has ever had an injection, vaccination, or surgery has at one time benefited from horseshoe crabs. Many question the practice of harvesting of the blood due to a 10–30% mortality rate for the horseshoe crab after the blood has been taken.
Due to government and environmental groups having used inconsistent methods for counting over the years, no one can say for certain what the population of the Atlantic Horseshoe Crab is. Because of habitat destruction, use in fishing, status as a culinary delicacy in some areas, and use for scientific research, the horseshoe crab has been designated as a vulnerable species by the IUCN.
To learn more about the Atlantic Horseshoe Crab and conservation efforts click the link below: