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.

[ATTACH]33465[/ATTACH]

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.

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.

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.

CaliforniaMama;750214 wrote:

in a way that does not destroy

erm, 15% of them die.

CaliforniaMama;750215 wrote:

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?

Wombat;750484 wrote:

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.

CaliforniaMama;750608 wrote:

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

CaliforniaMama;750608 wrote:

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.

:::chortle:::

Chuckles indeed.

Nirvana;750508 wrote:

Where is the butter?

Sorry, but no

[LEFT]Some people eat horseshoe crab eggs and roe, since there aren't any other edible parts on it.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]These creatures aren't even really crabs, let alone any type of crustacean. Although they may look similar to a crab, they actually belong to the family of Limulidae. [/LEFT]
This said, they are much closer to scorpions, spiders, and ticks:yelsick: than they are to any crustacean.

What, you didn't know that's what they make Egg McMuffins out of?

The eggs of horseshoe crabs aren't attended by the parents. Instead, they are simply deposited in the sand by the female as she drags the male along behind her to fertilize the eggs. The male hangs onto the back of the females shell with his claws and is usually about two-thirds the size of the female. Being this much smaller, he provides little resistance as he is dragged around the sand by the egg-depositing female.

WOO WOO SEXY TIMES

Ewwww - spider sex.
That's what I think when I see a large woman with a much smaller man.

I wonder if she might eat him afterwards.

Sundae;750809 wrote:

I wonder if she might eat him afterwards.

Kind of like the praying mantis.

richlevy;750739 wrote:

Sorry, but no

Some people eat horseshoe crab eggs and roe, since there aren't any other edible parts on it.
These creatures aren't even really crabs, let alone any type of crustacean. Although they may look similar to a crab, they actually belong to the family of Limulidae.
This said, they are much closer to scorpions, spiders, and ticks than they are to any crustacean.

They are harvested for bait, though. Some kind of sea life must love them.

CaliforniaMama;750828 wrote:

Kind of like the praying mantis.

And Sally Struthers.

Conch love to eat them.