The Cellar - August 14, 2011 Milking Horse Shoe Crabs

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- - August 14, 2011 Milking Horse Shoe Crabs (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=25686)

August 14, 2011 Milking Horse Shoe Crabs

Here is a beautiful example of man utilizing nature in a way that does not destroy. I only wish this were the norm.

Attachment 33465

Quote:

It’s blue, comes from a creature more ancient than dinosaurs, and saves countless human lives.

. . . for decades it’s proved vital to biomedical companies that must screen vaccines, IV fluids, and medical devices for bacteria that can be fatal in our bloodstream. Thanks to proteins in cells that act like a primitive immune system, the crabs’ blood coagulates instantly when it touches pathogens like E. coli and Salmonella.

Quote:

About 500,000 horseshoe crabs are collected annually along the U.S. East Coast under interstate regulations.

In a laboratory, blood is drawn from the crab’s primitive equivalent of a heart.

The live crabs are returned to the sea. The estimated mortality rate is 15 percent.

The blood’s blue color comes from copper in its oxygen-carrying protein, hemocyanin— akin to the iron-based hemoglobin in humans.

Quote:

About 20 percent of each crab’s blood is collected before it’s returned to the water.

PHOTOS: MARK THIESSEN, NGM Staff

via National Geographic

I have to admit this image totally grosses me out. It is all I could do to create the post with my gut in a clench to avoid tossing . . .

I guess it is just seeing these creatures clamped down with a tube draining blue liquid. It is a bit too alien for me. It's just kinda creepy.

Or it is what humans tend to fear aliens will do to us.

Whatever it is, the image is just too much for me, even though the whole practice seems so noble and harm-free.

And just how in the world did someone discover this in the first place? Do scientists just randomly go around playing with the blood of creatures to see what it will do?

We have a small island near my home that is covered with Horse shoe crabs.

Looks like Blue Smoothie time at the Darth Vader factory.

Tough little things. Folded in half until its dorsal joint cracks open, drained of a fifth of their blood through that wound, and only a 15% mortality rate.

15% mortality is only an approximation, but it's close enough in horse shoes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliforniaMama (Post 750214)

in a way that does not destroy

erm, 15% of them die.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliforniaMama (Post 750215)

even though the whole practice seems so noble and harm-free

again: 15% of them DIE.

What percentage of humans die without the microbial screening? It's not like they're torturing them for their all-natural aphrodisiac and penis-enlargement properties.

This is 20% ... ???
Nearly a whole bottle that is half the size of the poor bastard's entire body?
You ever had blood drawn and they bring out a 55 gallon drum?

Where is the butter?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wombat (Post 750484)

erm, 15% of them die.

To rephrase: . . . in a way that does not wipe out the horse shoe crab population.

Unlike the practice of harvesting shark fins where the fins are cut off and the shark thrown back into the water to die. 85% of the horse shoe crabs get returned to the ocean to live another day.

Plus, I think it is great that they are using crabs from the ocean and not creating an industry of raising them in captivity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliforniaMama (Post 750608)

To rephrase: . . . in a way that does not wipe out the horse shoe crab population.

Unlike the practice of harvesting shark fins where the fins are cut off and the shark thrown back into the water to die. 85% of the horse shoe crabs get returned to the ocean to live another day.
Plus, I think it is great that they are using crabs from the ocean and not creating an industry of raising them in captivity.

85% of the problems of horseshoe milking are caused by top horseshoe management. :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliforniaMama (Post 750608)

Unlike the practice of harvesting shark fins where the fins are cut off and the shark thrown back into the water to die. 85% of the horse shoe crabs get returned to the ocean to live another day.

Well over 85% of the shark is returned to the ocean... oh, wait- "to live another day". Never mind.