Horseshoe Crabs are an Endangered Species, and are often killed for their "blue" blood, which is used medically. This blue blood is highly prized by medical companies as it has special properties in detecting endotoxins. The reason it is blue is because of the amount of oxygen in it! Other species, like the lobster also have this blood, but what makes the horseshoe crab special is that lobster blood can not detect endotoxins.
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* [information courtesy of https://www.thealternativedaily.com/horseshoe-crab-endangered-over-profits/ ] MOST INFORMATION FOUND AT: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_crab ]
"Horseshoe crabs, which are more closely related to scorpions and spiders than to crabs, have become important to medical research as well. In some states, crab fishermen now catch crabs for milking and then return them to the water, a procedure most survive."
Horseshoe crabs are the world's oldest living species, 400 million years old! That's before the dinosaursThey aren't crabs! They aren't even crustaceans, they actually relate more to arachnids. Younger horseshoe crabs swim upside-down at a 45 degree angle to get around, older ones do this less though.Their tails are not stingers, despite the fact...
This species needs to be preserved because it's one of the oldest species on the planet, about 400 million years old, that's before the dinosaurs!! another reason they need to be preserved is because they are still useful medically, as mentioned before, the horseshoe crab's blood can take "endotoxins" out of the body, Hemocyanin is the chemical...
The Horseshoe Crab eats Mollusks, Annelid worms, and bits of fish. it doesn't have jaws, so it grinds up the food with its legs, and eats it. Several species of shorebirds depend on this crab for food, they eat the crab's eggs. Horseshoe crab eggs and baby crabs are also eaten by several species of fish, eels, and other aquatic...
Horseshoe Crabs normally live in and around shallow coastal waters, in soft sand, or in muddy areas around the United States, the horseshoe crab lives in the Atlantic ocean along the coast of North America and in the Pacific ocean, along the coast of Asia. They migrate along these coasts to the shoreline for spawning. The locations in which...