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Horseshoe Crabs

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Anonymous

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Horseshoe crabs are actually close relatives of the Arachnid family.

Horseshoe crabs cannot climb and tend to be quite placid on the ground. They prefer sandy beaches rather than rocky coasts which is the type that my coastal sighting came under.
 
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Horseshoe crabs dying in droves in Japan. :(

Nearly 500 horseshoe crabs have washed up dead on Japan's southern beaches near Kitakyushu, mystifying experts.

The famously blue-blooded creatures come to the tidal flats in southern and western Japan each year to lay eggs, and some normally die off.

But this year conservationists say up to 10 crabs have died each day, eight times higher than normal, according to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.

Some think the die-off means the crabs will lay fewer eggs next year.

The creatures are not true crabs, being most closely related to spiders and scorpions.

They are classified as an endangered species in Japan, where their habitat is being destroyed.

Experts cite the effects of global warming, a lack of places to lay eggs and disease as possible causes for the crabs' demise.

Horseshoe crabs are one of the world's oldest creatures and are prized for their blue blood.

Scientists have harvested the horseshoe's blue blood since the 1970s to test the sterility of medical equipment and intravenous drugs.

The blood coagulates around tiny amounts of bacteria, immobilising the pathogens.

One litre can sell for $15,000 (£11,360).
 
Blood from horseshoe crabs is already being used for it's antibacterial effects.
 
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The mysterious horseshoe crab had long been thought to be related to spiders etc. but new research seems to have confirmed that they are well within the Family.
Study: Horseshoe Crabs Really Are Arachnids, Just Like Spiders
Horseshoe crabs have never quite fit in with the rest of the ocean's animals. Considered living fossils, their circular bodies and sharp tails are often presented as frightening. But horseshoe crabs aren't scary, they're just misunderstood. A new scientific study has created a definitive family tree for horseshoe crabs, showing that they're best classified as arachnids.

/snip/

An old line of thinking assumed there was split in the family. On one level this makes sense—arachnids have become one of the most diverse classes of anthropods on Earth, with over 100,000 species. Meanwhile, the horseshoe crab genus Xiphosura has barely evolved over thousands of years, with a mere four species to its name. That also makes them harder to classify.

via Popular Mechanics
 
This 2020 Florida news article provides some tips on observing and reporting mating horseshoe crabs during the spring.
Into watching horseshoe crabs have sex? Florida needs your help

Arthropod passions will soar along Florida’s coastal waters in March and April as we reach peak mating season for horseshoe crabs.

The state wildlife service is requesting reports of any mating horseshoe crabs so it can track these primitive but important creatures.

Just as Spanish moss is neither Spanish nor a moss, horseshoe crabs aren’t actually crabs. They’re more closely related to spiders and scorpions. Ancient survivors from the period before the dinosaurs, they have declined in the past few decades from the loss of coastal habitat to construction.

Mating pairs and clusters can be easily recognized. The male hooks onto the larger female, often joined by other males hoping to help in fertilizing her eggs. They’re most easily seen at high tide within a few days of a new or full moon.

You can report sightings to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at https://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/crustaceans/horseshoe-crabs.

Horseshoe crab eggs are an important food for migrating birds. The adult crabs are food for fish, sea turtles, alligators and other creatures.

And if you see one on its back, you can help it. Never pick them up by the tail. Just grip it gently on its sides and flip it over.
SOURCE: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/f...0200219-zrcnvhtipnc4jnqczi5p4yrzfe-story.html
 
Blood from horseshoe crabs is already being used for it's antibacterial effects.
This Associated Press article provides an overview on how horseshoe crabs are key contributors to current medical product testing ...
Clean needles depend on the blue blood of horseshoe crabs

It’s one of the stranger, lesser-known aspects of U.S. health care — the striking, milky-blue blood of horseshoe crabs is a critical component of tests to ensure injectable medications such as coronavirus vaccines aren’t contaminated.

To obtain it, harvesters bring many thousands of the creatures to laboratories to be bled each year, and then return them to the sea — a practice that has drawn criticism from conservationists because some don’t survive the process.

The blood, which is blue due to its copper content, is coveted for proteins used to create the LAL test, a process used to screen medical products for bacteria. Synthetic alternatives aren’t widely accepted by the health care industry and haven’t been approved federally, leaving the crabs as the only domestic source of this key ingredient.

Many of these crabs are harvested along the coast of South Carolina, where Gov. Henry McMaster promoted the niche industry as key to the development of a domestic medical supply chain, while also noting that environmental concerns should be explored. ...

Horseshoe crabs — aquatic arthropods shaped like helmets with long tails — are more akin to scorpions than crabs, and older than dinosaurs. They’ve been scurrying along the brackish floors of coastal waters for hundreds of millions of years. Their eggs are considered a primary fat source for more than a dozen species of migratory shore birds, according to South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources.

Their value to avoiding infection emerged after scientists researching their immune response injected bacteria into horseshoe crabs in the 1950s. They ultimately developed the LAL test, and the technique has been used since the 1970s to keep medical materials and supplies free of bacteria.

Their biomedical use has been on the rise, with 464,482 crabs brought to biomedical facilities in 2018, according to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

In South Carolina, that’s done only by Charles River, a Massachusetts-based company that tests 55% of the world’s injectables and medical devices — like IV bags, dialysis solutions and even surgical cleaning wipes ...

Charles River employs local fishermen to harvest the crabs by hand, a process governed by wildlife officials that can only happen during a small annual window, when the creatures come ashore to spawn.

Contractors bring them to the company’s bleeding facilities, then return them to the waters from which they came. During a year, Jordan said his harvesters can bring in 100,000 to 150,000 horseshoe crabs, and still can’t satisfy the growing demand. ...

The practice is not without its critics, some of whom have argued that bleeding the crabs and hauling them back and forth is harmful. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 10% to 15% of harvested crabs die during the process. ...
FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/business...-on-ap-crabs-78ef3f0a346a6b712caf08b367fbd6b6
 
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