Here is a beautiful example of man utilizing nature in a way that does not destroy. I only wish this were the norm.
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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.
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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.
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About 20 percent of each crab’s blood is collected before it’s returned to the water.
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PHOTOS: MARK THIESSEN, NGM Staff
via
National Geographic