Horseshoe crabs have been around for millions of years, but did you know they also save human lives?
“Their blood contains a factor which is highly, highly sensitive to bacterial toxins or bacterial contamination in the presence of bacteria. It will clump or will clot up,” said Alison Haynes, a volunteer at Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center in Naples.
When our blood mixes with oxygen, it turns red, but horseshoe crab blood turns blue, which is key to its value in the medical field.
“The copper has these special coagulating properties, where they bind to particles on bacterial cells,” said Melissa May, an Assistant professor of marine biology at Florida Gulf Coast University.
May said you've probably used a product tested with horseshoe crab blood.
“They use this to test if the drugs are good and they can help treat. So, every shot you get a viral thing has this enzyme in it, which is called limulus amebocyte lysate,” said May.
May said that if bacteria are found, it will gel up.
“They're used in pharmaceutical companies for vaccines. So basically, they can test whether the batch of drugs is bad,” said May.
The process for getting the vital blood includes hooking the horseshoe crabs up to chambers.
“They drain up to like 70% of their blood. Then there's like a big jug underneath it, and they just drip their blood into it. Once they're done, they put the crabs back,” said May.
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