Horseshoe crabs are marine arthropods which are important to the food chain. They have been crawling on the planet for over a hundred million years before the era of dinosaurs. These are mostly found in Odisha’s seawater. Prasad, a scientist at the Indian Fisheries Research Institute, claims that the creature can be found in the water 30 to 40 meters deep.
It is common and is shaped like our horseshoe. It is rarely found in the neighbouring states of Odisha and West Bengal. The animal tends to have blue blood and the crab is also used for medicinal purposes.
With the existence of over 400 million years on Earth, these horseshoe crabs are also used for several medicinal purposes. It is also called living fossil fuel due to its constant shape and size. Scientist Prasad claims that these animals are also used for the manufacturing of anti-cancer medicines.
While talking to Local18, Prasad said that Horseshoe crabs come out of the sea during the monsoon season. The number of these crabs is increasing, he added. It is also believed that they move in groups. They are often found by fishermen during hunting and hence cost more due to the low availability of these crabs.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN), all four extant species of horseshoe crabs are imperilled, because of overfishing. Another factor includes the use of Horseshoe Crab as food and bait, production of the biomedical products derived from blood and habitat loss.
These crabs are commercially harvested by biomedical and cosmetic companies for their coveted blue blood. It is used to extract lysate, a chemical used to test for bacterial contaminants in injectable drugs or implants. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species describes the Americal horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus as vulnerable.
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