Sheril KirshenbaumNov 28, 2022

If you ever had a vaccine, injection or surgery, you’re indebted to the ancient & wondrous horseshoe crab.

Its blue blood contains Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) which clumps at contact with bacterial toxins. Animals are caught for their blood to test sterility of medical equipment & injections.

Unfortunately the harvest is unsustainable & populations are in decline. An effective synthetic substitute has been around for 2 decades & we just need the biomedical industry to switch. #SharedPlanet

Show threadDavid HoNov 28, 2022
@Sheril They're prehistoric, with a fossil record going back ~480 million years. 😔
Show threadSheril KirshenbaumNov 28, 2022

@davidho at least.

Horseshoe crabs were the first species I wrote a management plan for in Massachusetts for the Audubon society and The Nature Conservancy.

Show threadDavid HoNov 29, 2022
@Sheril wow, what was the plan? I feel like they’re a link to the past and it’s always such a privilege to see them.
Show threadSheril Kirshenbaum

@davidho Horseshoe crabs are truly amazing animals and that experience was one reason I became a marine biologist.

I'm not sure the management plan I wrote did much to protect the species. It was around 2000 or 2001, and populations aren't exactly recovering. But I hope more people are becoming aware of the problem and willing to speak out to protect them.

Nov 29, 2022 at 11:57amWeb