Harvesting Blue Blood
So who donates this primary ingredient for medical research and the development of vaccines? Dr Anjani Ganase discusses our connections to the ancient horseshoe crab. The horseshoe crab – if I want to be overly dramatic – is the most alien creature that I have ever come across. During my first year studying in Florida, we observed the gathering of horseshoe crabs along the water’s edge of a beach. From above, this crab looks like a mobile helmet without a body crawling slowly across; turn it over and, the wriggling legs around a mouth gives the appearance of a baby alien. Sometimes there is a micro biome of worms and other critters that infest the underside of the horseshoe crab. The horseshoe crab is actually not a crab. Rather it is a close relative of spiders and scorpions. There are four species existing today; one species, the Atlantic horseshoe crab ( Limulus polyphemus ), can be found along the eastern coast of USA and along Mexico. The other three species a...