New Delhi: The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and the Odisha Forest Department work together to protect horseshoe crabs. They are tagging the crabs along the coast to learn more about their numbers and where they live. This helps with efforts to protect the crabs and manage their habitats.
Horseshoe crab populations in India are decreasing because of fishing and illegal harvesting. The crabs are valuable because their blue blood can be used for medical tests. This blood can help test the safety of medicines and medical equipment.
Do you know that horseshoe crabs are important because they can help wounds heal? Let us learn more about them.
Horseshoe crab: Facts about the marine animal
Horseshoe crabs have been around for a very long time. Fossils of their ancestors have been found, dating back 445 million years, which predates the existence of dinosaurs by 200 million years. They are often called “living fossils” due to their minimal evolution over the past 200 million years.
Horseshoe crabs’ blood is blue because it contains a copper-based protein called hemocyanin, which carries oxygen. In contrast, human blood is red due to the iron in our haemoglobin.
Horseshoe crabs have ten legs, with the last pair used for moving food into their mouths. They feed on worms, algae, clams, and small prey found in the sediment on the ocean floor. As they have no jaws, they crush their meals between their legs.
Female horseshoe crabs can lay up to about 4,000 eggs in a single cluster, and they can lay around 20 clusters each year. They lay their eggs in nests in the sand, particularly in areas like the Delaware Bay.
Horseshoe crab babies hatch from translucent eggs and look like miniature versions of the adults. They shed their shells as they grow and gradually change appearance.
Shorebirds rely on horseshoe crab eggs as a crucial part of their diet during migration. However, humans’ use of horseshoe crabs as bait has led to declining populations, which threatens the survival of these shorebird species.
Interestingly, horseshoe crabs are not true; they are more closely related to scorpions and spiders than crustaceans.
Horseshoe crabs’ blood contains a unique enzyme used in the biomedical industry to test for bacterial endotoxins. Unfortunately, this process can be fatal for the crabs. Efforts are being made to find synthetic alternatives to reduce the impact on horseshoe crab populations.
Horseshoe crabs use their unique tail, called telson, not for self-defence but to help them flip over if they get stuck upside-down or to steer as they swim.
Under ultraviolet light, horseshoe crabs exhibit fluorescence like scorpions. Scientists are still researching the reasons behind this characteristic.
Horseshoe crabs are measured based on their prosomal width, with adult females averaging 5 pounds and adult males averaging 2 pounds.
The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and the Odisha Forest Department have begun a project to tag horseshoe crabs along the Odisha coast. This is the first time India has taken such an initiative to safeguard these crabs, whose populations are declining. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
